INTRODUCTION. 



*' of approaching the North Pole, though they have not 

 *' time, during the courfe of one fummer, to penetrate into 

 •« the Pacific Ocean : and whereas fuch approaches may 

 *' greatly tend to thedifcovery of a communication between 

 " the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as be attended 

 " with many advantages to commerce and fcience, &c. be 

 *' it enacted. That if any fhip fhall approach to within i" 

 «' of the North Pole, the owner, &c. or commander, &c. 

 ♦' fo approaching, fliall receive, as a reward for fuch firfl 

 " approach, the fum of five thoufand pounds *." 



That nothing might be omitted that could facilitate the 

 fuccefs of Captain Cook's expedition, fome time before he 

 failed, in the beginning of the fummer of 1776, Lieutenant 

 Pickerfgill, appointed Commander of his Majefty's armed 

 brig the Lion, was ordered " to proceed to Davis's Straits, 

 « for the protecT:ion of the Britifli whale fifliers;" and that 

 firft obje<5l being fecured, " he was then required and di- 

 *' reded to proceed up Baffin's Bay, and explore the coafts 

 " thereof, as far as in his judgment the fame could be done 

 « without apparent rifk, taking care to leave the above 

 " mentioned Bay fo timely, as to fecure his return to Eng- 

 •' land in the fall of the year j" and it was farther enjoined 

 to him, " to make nautical remarks of every kind, and to 

 •= employ Mr. Lane (Matter of the velTel under his com- 

 *< mand) in furveying, making charts, and taking views of 

 " the feveral bays, harbours, and different parts of thecoafts 

 " which he might vifit, and in making fuch notations thereon 

 •' as might be ufeful to geography and navigation f." 



xxxvii 



* See the Statutes at Large, 1776, i6 George III. chap. 6, 

 ^ From his MS. Inftrudions, dated May 14, 1776. 



Pickerfgill, 



