NATURAL HISTORY. 



557 



already I have trespassed too much 

 upon the Society, in the unexpect- 

 ed extent of this paper, I never- 

 theless cannot think of dismissing 

 the subject, Avithout completing 

 my original plan, by noticing the 

 comparative approximations to- 

 wards the Poles, which have been 

 effected on different meridians ; 

 and at the same time offering, with 

 diffidence, a few remarks on the 

 possibility of travelling to the 

 North Pole, together with a sketch 

 of the reasoning on which the 

 probability of success depends. 



First, it has already been re- 

 marked, that the 80th degree of 

 north latitude is almost annually 

 accessible to the Greenland whale- 

 fishers, and that this latitude, on 

 particular occasions, has been ex- 

 ceeded. On one of the first at- 

 tempts which appears to have been 

 made to explore the circumpolar 

 regions, in the year 1607, Henry 

 Hudson penetrated the ice on the 

 north-western coast of Spitzberge n 

 to the latitude of 80° 23' N. In 

 1773, Captain Phipps, on " a 

 voyage towards the North Pole," 

 advanced on a similar track to &0° 

 37 of north latitude. In the year 

 1806, the ship Resolution of 

 Whitby, commanded by my Fa- 

 ther, (whose extraordinary perse- 

 verance and nautical ability are 

 well appreciated by those in the 

 Greenland trade,and proved by his 

 never-failing success), was forced, 

 by astonishing efforts, through a 

 vast body of ice, which commenced 

 in the place of the usual barrier, 

 but exceeded its general extent by 

 at least a hundred miles. We 

 then reached a navigable sea, and 

 advanced without hinderance to 

 the latitude of H\\° north, a dis- 

 tujice of ojily 170 league? from 



the Pole J which is, I imagine, 

 one of the most extraordinary ap- 

 proximations yet realised. 



In Hudson's Bay, between the 

 longitudes of 50° and 80° west, 

 ships can seldom advance beyond 

 the 74th degree of north latitude j 

 and only one instance is upon 

 record, %»-herein the extremity of 

 the bay in 78° N. has been ex- 

 plored. 



InBehring's Straits, the adven- 

 turous Cook, on the meridian of 

 161|^° W. (very near the Ameri- 

 can coast), advanced to the lati- 

 tude of 70° 44' N., on the ISth of 

 August 177s ; and on the ^Gth, 

 in longitude 176° W. they were 

 stopped by the ice in 69° 45 N 

 After his lamentable death. Cap- 

 tain Clerke directed the proceed- 

 ings in the following year, and 

 reached the latitude of 70° 33' on 

 the 18th of July, being about four 

 leagues short of their former ad- 

 vance. 



The southern hemisphere, to- 

 wards the Pole, was likewise ex- 

 plored by Captain Cook on a 

 former voyage, on various meri- 

 dians, and with indefatigable per- 

 severance. On his first attempt 

 in 1772, they met with ice in 

 about 51° south, and longitude 21 

 east. They saw great fields in 

 55° south on the 17th of January 

 1773, and on February the 24th, 

 were stopped by field-ice in 62° 

 south latitude, and 95° east lon- 

 gitude. 



Again, on the second attempt 

 in December of the same veai-, 

 they first met with ice in about 

 62° south latitude, and 172-173° 

 west longitude ; and on the 15th, 

 saw field ice in latitude 6G''. On 

 the 30th of January 1774, they 

 )vere stooped by immense ice- 

 fields 



