2D0 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



Charles II. to sail by the north-east passage to the Pacific. For 

 this purpose the EngUsh Admiralty fitted out a vessel, the 

 Speedivell, while " as all exploratory voyages are exposed to the 

 possibility of disaster," another small ship, the Prosperous, was 

 purchased and handed over to the expedition by private gentle- 

 men.^ The command of the first vessel was given to Captain 

 Wood, the chief promoter of the undertaking, and the other 

 vessel was commanded by Captain Flawes. The voyage was 

 completely without result, as Wood did not jjenetrate so far, 

 either to the north or east, as his predecessors or as the 

 whalers, who appear to have at that time frequently visited 

 North Novaya Zemlya. Wood had previously accompanied Sir 

 John Narborough during a voyage through the dangerous 

 Magellan Straits, in the course of which he became known 

 as a bold and skilful seaman, but he not only wanted experi- 

 ence in sailing amongst ice, but also the endurance and the 

 coolness that are required for voyages in the high north. He 

 thereby showed himself to be quite unfit for the command 

 which he undertook. Before his departure he was unreasi:)n- 

 ably certain of success ; with the first encounter with ice his 

 self-reliance gave way entirely ; and when his vessel was 

 wrecked on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, he knew no other way 

 to keep up the courage of his men and prevent mutiny than 

 to send the brandy bottle round.- Finally after his return 

 he made Barents and other distinguished seafarers in the 

 Arctic Regions answerable for all the skipper tales collected 

 from quite other quarters, which he before his departure held 

 to be proved undoubtedly true. This voyage would therefore 

 not have been referred to here, if it had not been preceded and 

 followed by lively discussions regarding the fitness of the Polar 

 Sea for navigation, during which at least a portion of the 

 experience which Dutch and English whalers had gained of the 

 state of the ice between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya was 

 rescued from oblivion, though unfortunately almost exclusively 

 in the form of unconfirmed statements of very high latitudes, 

 which had been occasionally reached. Three papers mainly led 

 to Wood's voyage. These were : — 



1. A letter, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,^ 



^ These were James Duke of York, Lord Berkley, Sir John Williamson; 

 Sir John Bankes, Mr. Samuel Peeps?, Captain Herbert, Mr. Dupey, and Mr. 

 Hoopgood (Harris, Nav. Bihl., vol. ii. p. 453). 



^ "All I could do in this exigency was to let the brandy-bottle go 

 round, which kept them allways fox'd, till the 8th July Captain Flawes 

 came so seasonably to our relief " (Barrow, A Chronological Htstoi-y of 

 Voyages into the Arctic Regions. London, 1818, p. 268). 



^ "A letter, not long since written to the Publisher by an Experienced 

 person residing at Amsterdam," etc. {Philosophical Transactions, vol. ix. 

 p. 3. London, 1674). 



