of a direct Passage over the Pule. 237 



ca^lmi coast of rAd Greenland, but even all around it, and even 

 Ik tween it and Iceland and towards Spitzbergen. That is, pro- 

 vided the attempt is to be made, a'; it is to be hoped it will be, 

 to the eastward nf Spi-xhi gen; l)ecause, for the reasons I have 

 offered, it is probable the least quantity of ice will be found there 

 clear of the land; at all events, whatever masses may be found 

 there, "they will in all probability be of less magnitude, and more 

 detached from each other ; because the spare for them to move 

 in is least confined. If any of the vessels fitting out are destined 

 to take this route, the probabilitv is, that if they advance beyond 

 the latitude of 82' or 83° N. the ice will less and less impede 

 their progress to the Pole ; and to reach it will perhaps be the 

 least difficult part of the enterprise. 



To the northward of 82° or 83^ up to the Pole, it is likely that 

 the weather in the summer will be for the most part fine, but 

 hazy generally— thick fogs will be very frequent. The winds are 

 likely to be moderate, shifting often round from north to east, 

 by south and west, to north again j but prevailing chiefly from 

 the eastward. 



If our polar navigator is furnished wkh tiir.e-keepers set to 

 Greenwich mean time, or with known errors relative to that time, 

 whose rates of going have been correctly ascertained, and which 

 rates will not be affected by cold, electricity, magnetisui, and 

 other yet unknown causes perhaps existing there, which may - 

 operate on the materials of their construction ; it is very true, 

 the " time at Greenwich " will always be known: but should this 

 compass become useless to him, this Greenwich time alone will 

 not enable him to steer his proper course unless he sees the sun, 

 whose bearing he must have now and then to regulate it by. 

 Here then at the Pole difficulties may occur, that the more " un- 

 divided attention" of the navigator can not alone enable him to 

 surmount. For at the Pole being left entirely perhaps without 

 any guide, though he may chance to steer a true south course, 

 he cannot possibly know to what point on the globe it may hap- 

 pen to lead him, until he is enabled to see the sun, which in all 

 probabilitv will be very generally obscured. 



If he passes the Pole without any great difficulty, and finds the 

 true south course he has steered, to be by chance, on or near the 

 170" west meridian, and so leading him towards Behring Strait, 

 he will, in all probabilitv, soon get to the southward as far as 

 80% or perhaps 78% where it is 05 probable he will find his further 

 progress stopt by ice, perhaps impenetrable. 



From this part of the expedition, therefore, I see no very rea- 

 sonable ground for entertaining "lively hopes," that a practica- 

 ble passage for ships will be discovered into the Pacific, though 

 Vol. :, 1 . No. 24 1 . May 1818. Y there 



