OF THE EXPEDITION I.ATELY PREPARED. 241 



but it has been, in many instances unfortunately, — in all 

 unsuccessfully attempted. 



Mr. Dobbs calculated, on finding the passage in latitude 

 62° N. which Mr. Ellis proved to be erroneous ; and the 

 latter with equal confidence fixed the probable opening 

 in the north end of Hudson's Bay. Baffin, who was a 

 practicable and able navigator, well accustomed to sailing 

 amongst ice, had acted previously on other grounds, and 

 directed his course up Davis's Strait, and although he had 

 not gained the point, j^et he persisted in the accuracy of 

 his plan till his death, which happened in the East Indies, 

 at the siege of Ormus. 



Hudson, aware of the errors of his predecessors, tried the 

 way both to Spitzbergen and Davis's Strait. He did not 

 succeed in either ; the ice on the eastern side presenting 

 an eternal obstruction, and, in the latter, his death pre- 

 maturely cut him short before he could prove the superiority 

 of his plans. It is to be regretted that a man so well 

 calculated for enterprise as Hudson was, did not push 

 forwards into Davis's Strait at once, and try to solve this 

 great problem. In Lord Mulgrave's expedition the ideas 

 of Hudson were again acted on ; but the advance effected 

 was not so great even as his. 



This rapid review of the various expeditions is more, in 

 point of plan, than with any regard to the succession of 

 dates, and my reason for so doing is that, by comparing 



2 I 



