^l INTRODUCTION. 



It was natural to hope, that fomething would havf' been 

 done in one or other, or in both thefe voyages of the Lon, 

 that might have opened our views with regard to the prac- 

 ticabiUty of a palTage from this fide of America. But, un- 

 fortunately, the execution did not anfwer the expe6lotions 

 conceived. Pickerfgill, who had acquired profeflioriai ex- 

 perience when ading under Captain Cook, juftly meriicd the 

 cenfure he received, for improper behaviour when intruded 

 with command in Davis's Straits ; and the talcnrs of 

 Young, as it afterward appeared, were more adapted lo con- 

 tribute to the glory of a vi(5lory, as Commander of a line of 

 battle fliip, than to add to geographical difcoveries, by 

 encountering mountains of ice, and exploring unknown 

 coafts *. 



Both Pickerfgill and Young having been ordered to pro- 

 ceed into Baffin's Bay ; and Captain Cook being directed 

 not to begin his fearch till he fliould arrive in the latitude of 

 65', it may not be improper to fay fomething here of the 

 reafons which weighed with thofe who planned the voyages, 

 and framed the inftru6lions, to carry their views fo far 

 Northward, as the proper fituation, where the paiTage, if it 

 exifted at all, was likely to be attempted with fuccefs. It 

 may be afked, Why was Hudfon's Bay negleded on our 

 fide of America ; and why was not Captain Cook ordered to 

 begin his fearch on its oppofite fide, in much lower lati- 



* In the Philofophical Tranfaftions, Vol. Ixviii. p. 1057, we hgve the track of 

 Pickerfgill's voyage, which, probably, may be of ufe to our Greenland fhips, as it 

 contains many obfervations for fixing the longitude and latitude of the coafts in Davis's 

 Straits. But it appears that he never entered Baffin's Bay, the higheit Northern 

 latitude to which he advanced being 68^ 14'. As to Young's proceedings, having 

 failed abfolutely in making any difcovery, it is of lefs confequence, that no comniu- 

 pication of his journal could be procured. 



tudes ? 



