26 EQUIPMENT. 



some individual, more sanguine than the rest 

 of the community, has, by his superior know- 

 ledge, greater exertions, or more constant per- 

 severance, succeeded in bringing a project to 

 bear which, in less vigorous or pertinacious 

 hands, would have been suffered to die awav, 

 this favourable change was turned to so good 

 an account by an influential member of the 

 government, and whose name is inseparable 

 from northern discovery, that, in the following 

 year, His Majesty George the Fourth, then 

 Prince Regent, was pleased to command that 

 attempts should be made to reach the Pacific, 

 both by the western route through Baffin's Bay, 

 and by a northern course across the Pole. 



Four vessels were accordingly prepared for 

 this service, two of which, the Isabella and 

 Alexander, under the command of Captain Ross, 

 and Lieutenant Parry, were to sail upon the 

 former voyage, and the other two, whose pro- 

 ceedings form the subject of the following nar- 

 rative, were to pursue the more novel course 

 last mentioned. 



On the 15th January, 1818, Captain David 

 Buchan, R.N., who had, a short time previously, 

 distinguished himself in charge of an expedition 

 into the interior of Newfoundland, was appoint- 

 ed to the command of the Polar expedition, 



