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NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



NORTH-WEST PASSAQR 



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th« Ooman Ocean. Thii oirouitoiu oouraa require* more time for 

 the tftuiaininion of the northern ware than that which arrivee through 

 the Strait of Dorer, and therefore when the two floodtiilea meet, 

 which takee place off the coast of Eaaez, the northern is lialf a day 

 Uter than the other breuch from whicji it was originally separated. 

 On the coast of Holland this meeting occurs not far from the TexeL 

 Beaidea the action of the lunar tides, the effects of distant currents are 

 ■ometimea manifest in the northern part of this sea, produced by the 

 melting of the polar ice, and, in an opposite direction, by the continuous 

 morement of an offset from the Oalf Stream. 



The ioeberKS which quit the arctic seas and melt in the yicinity of 

 the Qeman Ocean, the orerflowing of the Baltic Sea, and the volume 

 of freah water constantly pouring into its confined space from the sur- 

 rounding rivers, safficiently prove, whatever may have been asserted 

 to the contrary, that its water must contain considerably less salt than 

 that of the Atlantic 



NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. The countries which are situated 

 between 49* and 70° N. Ut, 55° and 141° W. long., aro described iu 

 the article Huoso:<'s Bat Tebritories. Those regions which lie north 

 of 70° N. lat., and within tlie above-mentioned degrees of west lougt- 

 tade, are noticed iu the course of the present article, which is a brief 

 narrative of the successivo expeditions for the discovery of a passage 

 by aea from the shores of Europe across the Atlantic Ocean into the 

 Fkd&c Ocean, and also of the several voyages and overland journeys 

 in search of the expedition under Sir John Franklin. The other 

 countries which smTound the north pole are described under their 

 respective names. [Qbeekland, Icslakd, LAi>LAiiD, Nova Zembla, 

 Siberia, Kavtchatka, &c.] 



A few years after the discovery of America, Vosoo de Gama suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the shores of Malabar in Hindustan. He returned 

 to Europe in 1499. On comparing the geographical position of the 

 countries discovered by Columbus oud Vasco de Gama, it was evident 

 that an immeuse space lay between them. This space comprised the 

 great kingdom of Cathay (China), which on the globes and maps made 

 by the German geographers of tliat time, on the authority of Marco 

 Polo, extends more than 20 degrees east of its true position. It was 

 therefore concluded in Portugal, that Vasco de Gama had only sailed 

 half-way to Cathay, and that the countries discovered by Columbus 

 were much nearer to Cathay than the coast of Malabar was. It was 

 supposed that if a vessel were to sail past the countries discovered by 

 Columbus, either to the north or the south, it would reach Cathay. 

 This consideration gave rise to the first attempt to make a North- 

 Weat Passage. In 1500 Gaspar de Cortereal, a Portuguese nobleman, 

 was sent out to make the North-West Passage. He discovered a large 

 part of the north-eastei-n coast of Labrador. The following year he 

 returned to the place to which his discoveries had extended, and came 

 to a strait, which was called the Strait of Anion. It can hardly be 

 doubted that this is the strait which is now called Hudson's Strait. 

 Being entangled in the floating ice which encumlwrs that strait all the 

 year round, his vessels were separated. The vessel of Gaspar de Cor- 

 tereal was never heard of, but the two others returned to Lisbon. A 

 brother of Cortereal sailed in 1502 iu search of him, but he also never 

 returned. After this the Portuguese abandoned tho attempt. 



John Cabot had previously (1497) discovered tho island of New- 

 foundland, but evidently without any design of discovering a North- 

 West PasMge. His son, Sebastian Cabot, who had accompanied him 

 on his voyages, sought for the passage in 1517, when he accompanied 

 Sir Thomas Pert, but this voyage added nothing to what had been 

 done beforei For a long time no attempt was made, probably because 

 Hagalhaens had succeeded in entering the Pacific by the Strait of 

 Vagalhaens, at the southern extremity of America. 



The spirit of maritime discovery was excited in England about tho 

 middle of tho 16th century, and lasted more than fifty years. All the 

 numerous attempts made in this period were at the expense of private 

 peiaons, or rather companies of merchants. The attempts were first 

 directed to the discovery of a North-East Passage, by which it was 

 proposed to reach the Pacific by sailing {h>m west to east along the 

 northern shores of Asia, the real extent of the continent of Asia being 

 then unknown. Three vessels nailed under the command of Sir Hugh 

 W'illoughby and Richard Chancellor in 1 553. Tho vessels separated : 

 Sir Hugh perished with his whole crew on tho coast of Lapland, but 

 Chancellor entered the White Sea. Chancellor's discovery was of 

 importance : it led to the establishment of a trade between England 

 and Archangel, and to the design of the English of carrying on com- 

 merce with India by means of the Volga and the Caspian Sea, which 

 project BO completely engrossed the attention of the merchants of 

 London, that all further attempts at discovering the North-East 

 PiSMge were abandoned. The Dutch merchants a^rwards resolved 

 to try if it was poaaible to reach the East Indies by a North-East 

 Paange. William Barents made two voyages (1594-1596), but .was 

 unable to proceed cast of Nova-Zembla and the Strait of Waygatz, 

 on account of the quantity of ice which covered the sea to the east of 

 that isUnd. 



In the meantime the Nortb-West Passage was lost sight of until 

 the year 1C76, when the attempt was again made by the English, who 

 prosecuted this object with great ardonr for forty years. The first 

 English seaman who did anything decisive towards this object was 

 Martin Frobiahcr, who made three voyages (1676, 1577, and 157S) to 



the northern seas. In the second voyage ho discovered Frobisher's 

 Strait, 63' N. lat„ and in the third he re-discovered the Strait of 

 Anian, or Hudson's Strait He wns followed by John Davis, who 

 likewise ma<ie three voyages (1685, 1586, and 15S7). In the first 

 voyage ho discovered Davis s Strait, and sailed up it to Mount Raleigh, 

 66° N. lat., and also found the inlet now called Northumberland Strait, 

 in 65° N. lat. In his third voyage he extended his discoveries along 

 the western shores of Greenland as far as 72° N. lat, and aftci-wanls 

 in sailing southward he likewise found the entrance of Hudson's 

 Strait, which had been seen before that time by Cortereal and Fro- 

 bisher, but none of these three navigators seem to have advanced any 

 great distance into it Henry Hudson, after several unsuccessful 

 voyages of discovery to the north-east and north, directed his last 

 voyage to the north-west, and penetrated through Hudson's Strait 

 into Hudson's Bay. He passed tho winter on the shores of the bay, 

 hoping to find a passage to the Pacific in the following year, but his 

 crew, which had suffered great hardships during this voyage, muiiniod, 

 and abandoned him and some of his adherents in a boat in the middle 

 of the bay. Hudson was never heard of afterwards. In 1612 Sir 

 Thomas Button discovered the strait between Southampton Island 

 and the continent ; and Bylotin 161S discovered Fox Channel between 

 Cumberland Island and Southampton Islaud. Bylot and Baffin iu 

 1614 penetrated through Davis's Strait and explored Baffin's Bay to 

 its most northern extremity, called Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, 

 78° N. lat In returning olong the western shores of Baffin's Bay, 

 they passed the wide opening of Lancaster Soimd (between 73° and 

 75° N. lat), but considered it a closed bay. As their researches had 

 been made with great care, Baffin was of opinion that all attempts to 

 find a North- West Passage in these parts were useless, and this opinion 

 soon became so prevalent as to put a stop to all voyages of discovery 

 in this direction. The voyages were now directed only to the explora- 

 tion of Hudson's Bay, and were prosecuted with less ardour. In 1631 

 James discovered James's Bay, the most southern port of Hudson's 

 Bay, and in 1741 Middleton explored Wager River and Repulse Bay on 

 the Melville Peninsula. 



While the English were pursuing their discoveries on the north- 

 eastern shores of North America nearly without interruption, the 

 Spaniards made some feeble attempts along the north-western coast 

 with a view of finding a North- West Passage. Their voyages led to 

 no important result, except that Juan de Fuca seems to have visited 

 the coast, as the southern strait by which Vancouver Island is separated 

 from the continent still bears the name of Fuca Strait 



The question as to the existence of a North- We^t Passage seemed 

 now to have been considered aa decided in the negative, when the 

 whalers who annually visit the sea on both sides of Greenland 

 reported that in the years 1810 and 1817 the arctic seas were much 

 less encumbered with ice than had ever been observed. The British 

 government now resolved to make an attempt to settle this question. 

 In 1818 two vessels were despatched, under the command of Captain 

 John Ross and Lieutenant Parry, to re-examine the shores of Baffin's 

 Bay. All the bays and inlets which these navigators entered were 

 closed by great masses of ice, and Captain Ross was also of opinion that 

 this was the caso with Lancaster Sound, and that a NortU-West 

 Passage did not exist in these quarters. But Parry thought that 

 Lancaster Sound, considering its great width, had not been examined 

 with sufficient care. Parry was sent in the following year (1819), for 

 the purpose of examining it more closely than had been done by 

 Captain Ross. On entering tho sound he sailed in a westerly direction 

 30 degrees of longitude, or 540 miles, having on the north a series of 

 elevated tracts, broken apparently into islands by intervening channels. 

 The larger of Uiese islands were named by himrespeotively Cornwidlis 

 Island, Bathurst Islaud, and Melville Island. ' On the south side of 

 the sound were two large islands, of which the eastern was called 

 Cockbum Island ; the western remained nameless, as it was supposed 

 to form a part of the American continent The channel which divides 

 these two islands received the name of Regent's Inlet West of 

 100° W. long, no land was in view on tho foutli. Parry and his crows 

 passed the winter on Melville Island, hoping in the following summer 

 to reach the Pacific. He was unable however to advance west of 

 Melville Island, the sea being covei-ed with thick and impenetrable 

 ice : but no land was in sight, except that at a great distance to tho 

 west-south-west there appeared a bold coast, to which Parry gave the 

 name of Banks' Land. 



All hope of reaching the Pacific by Lancaster Sound being frustrated. 

 Parry proposed to try if the object could be effected by any of the 

 inlets which open into Hudson's Bay, the northern portion of which 

 hod not been explored. In 1821 he entered that Bay, and passing 

 between Cumberland Island and Southampton Island, he advanced 

 to Repulse Bay, which ho examined, and found to be completely 

 inclosed, as Middleton had described it He then explored a part of 

 tho contiguous coast to the northward, in which ho found another 

 largo indentation, which he called Lyon's Inlet. His vessels were 

 soon afterwards frozen up in the midst of the eea, near Winter Island, 

 65° N. lat. In the following summer he continued his voyage north- 

 ward, and discovered the whole coast between 65° and 70° N. lat, in 

 which no deep indentation occurred, with the exception of a wide 

 sound between 69° and 70°, which he explored for more than 60 miles, 

 when he found that it was closed by a barrier of ice, lying south and 



