150 ON THE EFFECTING OF 



it has been found that, owing to some convulsions of nature, 

 the sea was more open and more free from compact ice 

 than in any former voyage they ever made ; that several 

 ships actually reached the eighty-fourth degree of latitude, 

 in which no ice whatever was found ; that, for the first time 

 for 400 years, vessels penetrated to the west coast of 

 Greenland, and that they apprehended no obstacle to their 

 even reaching the pole, if it had consisted with their duty 

 to their employers to make the attempt. This curious and 

 important information has, we learn, induced the Royal 

 Society to apply to ministers to renew the attempt of ex- 

 ploring a north-west passage, as well as to give encourage- 

 ment to fishing vessels to try how far northward they can 

 reach, by dividing the bounty to be given, on the actual 

 discovery, into portions, as a reward for every degree 

 beyond eighty-four that they shall penetrate. For the 

 same reason, we think it would be adviseable for the 

 merchants engaged in the Greenland whale fishery not to 

 postpone the sailing of their ships to the usual season, but 

 expedite them at once so as to take advantage of the 

 temporary fresh." 



In addition to the above, another notification informs the 

 public, that, 



" Capt. Buchan, of the pike sloop of war, recently re- 

 turned from Newfoundland, is appointed to the expedition 

 to the north pole. Capt. Ross is the other officer who 



