276 



POLAR EXPLORATION 



could only penetrate to 70 45'. The government 

 offered a prize of 5000 to any crew i lint Hliould 

 reach 89 S. long. ; l>ut after those failures there 

 was no effort made till 1806, when Scoresby reached 

 814 N. immediately alxive Spitzbergeu. In follow- 

 ing expedition* Scoresby explored Jan Mayen 

 Island and the east coast of Greenland, largely 

 adding to our knowledge of the physical geography 

 ami natural history of the Arctic regions. The 

 expeditions of Buchan and Franklin in 1818, of 

 Clavering in 1823, of Graah in 1828, of De Blosse- 



ville in 1833, did not reach higher latitudes than 

 those which preceded them. 



To encourage polar exploration on the North 

 Americancoast tin- BritishgoviTiiini'iit li.-id promised 

 a reward of 20,000; yet nothing was done till th 

 Admiralty in 1818 Bent out Ross and Parry, who 

 only explored part of Lancaster Sound. Nex* 

 year Parry alone discovered Prince Regent Inlet, 

 BMTOW Strait, and (110 \V.) Melville Sound. 

 Follow-in}; up tliis line of exploration, Hoss in 1829 

 at last reached a point only 200 miles from Turnogain 



* g>V" "*> 



,. -.> ? 5 



Point, which had recently been found by another 

 expedition sailing eastward from Bchring Strait. 

 Rom then named Boothia Felix, in which the mag- 

 netic pole lay, and King William'* IMaml. In 

 1826-27 Franklin traced the North American coast 

 from the Mackenzie Hiver westwards to Cape 

 Beechey, 860 miles, while his companions, Richard- 

 son and Kendall, proceeded eastwards towards the 

 Coppermine River. Dease ami Simpson in 1838 

 extended the survey of the American coast for 



almnt 100 miles, from Point Turnagain. In 1846-47 

 Dr John Hae explored the west shore of Boothia 

 (Jiilf, ami di-rovered Boothia Felix to be a penin- 

 sula. In 18J>1 the same explorer surveyed the 

 coast from the Mackenzie River to King NVilliam 

 Land, and also the south-east coast of Victoria 

 Land. 



The success of Ross led to Sir John Franklin's 

 expedition (left England May 19, 1845), so un- 

 fortunate to him and his new, so famous from th 



