THE SEA. 



return was publicly accused by one Mr. Arthur Dobbs, of having- acted in bad faith to 

 the Government, and of having taken a bribe of 5,000 from the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 his old employers, not to make discoveries. The captain denied having accepted any bribe, 

 but almost admitted that he had said no one should be much the wiser if he did make 

 the north-west passage. The agitation, however, stirred by Dobbs, led to the passing of 

 an Act ;of Parliament offering the large sum of 20,000 for the discovery of a north- 

 western route to the Indies. Two vessels the DolL's Galley and California were equipped 

 by subscription, and left in the spring of 1746. The expedition wintered near Fort 

 York, but although absent seventeen months, virtually accomplished nothing. The result 

 was that the ardour of the public as well as of explorers received a decided check, and 

 for nearly thirty years we hear of no Arctic voyage being despatched for purposes of 

 discovery. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Paucity of Arctic Expeditions in the Eighteenth Century Phipps' Voyage Walls of Ice Ferocious Sea-horses A Beautiful 

 Glacier Cook's Voyage A Fresh Attempt Extension of the Government Rewards Cape Prince of \Vales-Aniong 

 the Tchuktchis Icy Cape -Baffled by the Ice Russian Voyages The Two Unconquerable Capes Peter the Great 

 Behring's Voyages Discovery of the Straits The Third Voyage Scurvy and Shipwreck Death of the Commander 

 New Siberia The Ivory Islands. 



THE eighteenth century was not remarkable for the number of northern voyages instigated 

 in England for geographical research. This was partly due to the many previous failures, 

 but still more to important discoveries which were being made in other parts of the 

 world, and which for the time threw Arctic adventure in the shade. The land and river 

 expeditions of Samuel Hearne and Alexander Mackenzie to the shores or neighbourhood of 

 the Arctic Ocean do not come within the scope of this wor,k, and strong doubts have 

 been expressed as to whether either of these explorers really reached salt water, although 

 both were undoubtedly near it. 



The northern voyage of Captain Constantine John Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave) 

 deserves some notice, inasmuch as it was a distinct attempt to reach the North Pole. 

 The Hon. Dames Barrington and others had, prior to 1773, agitated the subject before 

 the Royal Society, and the President and Council of that learned body had memorialised 

 the Government to fit out an expedition for the purpose, which His Majesty was pleased 

 to direct should be immediately undertaken. Two vessels, the Racehorse and the Carcass, 

 were selected, the former having ninety and the second eighty men on board. The ships 

 left the Nore on June 10th, 1773, and seventeen days later had reached the latitude of 

 the southern part of Spitzbergen, without having met ice or experiencing cold. But 

 from the 5th of July onwards, when off Spitzbergen, they met immense fields, almost 

 "one compact, impenetrable body/' and the most heroic and persevering efforts failed to 

 penetrate it or find an opening. In Waigatz Strait, where some of the officers landed 

 on a low, flat island, large fir-trees, roots and all, and in other cases timber which had 



