NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. §9 



It might be a material assistance to those em- 

 ployed in completing the examination of Baffin's 

 Bay, as well as productive of some interesting in- 

 formation in meteorological phenomena, were a ves- 

 sel or two to remain in the northern part of this bay 

 during the winter. Vessels having to penetrate the 

 ice from the main sea in the usual way, cannot 

 probably obtain a passage into the Bay before the 

 middle or end of the month of July, when the sea- 

 son is so far advanced, that if the navigators intend 

 to return, they can only calculate upon an interval 

 of six or eight weeks, before it will be prudent for 

 them to make their escape out of the Bay. But by 

 wintering in the northern part of the Bay, there is 

 little doubt but that the vessel would be released 

 by the ice as early as May or June, and thus be 

 afforded about double the time for research that 

 could be obtained by wintering out of the Bay ; at 



tion of expeditions intended for discovery in the arctic regions. 

 No one has a higher opinion of the nautical skill and bravery 

 of our naval commanders than I have, (having myself served 

 some time in the Navy, and witnessed their talents,) — yet I 

 cannot yield the palm to them for that description of talent re- 

 quisite for performing to the best advantage the navigation 

 among ice. No officer, I believe, would expect to equal the 

 river pilots, or the masters of the Gravesend boats, in working 

 their little vessels up or down the Thames ; — for no judgment, 

 however profound, — no talent, however acute, could supersede 

 the necessity of practice for performing this navigation with the 

 beauty and correctness with which it is accomplished by these 

 practised pilots and boatmen. 



