298 



A.D. 



1773. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The British Government equips an expedition under the com- 

 mand of the Hon. Capt. Phipps, R.N. — Racehorse and Car- 

 cass appointed to this service. — Departure. — Spitzbergen. 

 — Barrier of ice. — Fair Haven. — Seven Islands. — Ships 

 beset and abandoned. — Crew take to the boats. — Ice opens. 

 — They regain their ships. — Effect an escape. — Put into 

 Port. — The Pendulum set up. — Return of the expedition to 

 England. 



In the year 1773 the Honourable Daines Bar- 

 rington laid before the President and Council of 

 the Royal Society a series of papers, in which he 

 advocated the practicability of approaching the 

 North Pole, stating that, from various information 

 which he had been able to collect, several vessels, 

 principally Dutch, had succeeded in attaining a 

 much higher latitude than was generally supposed 

 possible, and that one had actually approached 

 within a degree of the Pole. 



Such a communication, coming from the en- 

 lightened hydrographer of the navy, at a time 

 when the public mind was elated by the brilliant 

 discoveries of Wallis and Cook, could not fail to 

 obtain a favourable reception from the Royal 

 Society, who lost no time in applying to the 



