TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 157 



these circumstances, and remembering the success which 

 rewarded the efforts of Great Britain in the search for the 

 North- West Passage, it cannot be regarded as national pre- 

 judice to assert that events indicate the seamen of this 

 country as exceptionally fitted to contend successfully 

 against the difficulties and the dangers of Arctic explora- 

 tion. Should England, then, give up the attempt to reach 

 the North Pole by way of Smith's Sound and its northerly 

 prolongation, it may fairly be considered unlikely that the 

 Pole will ever be reached in that direction. 



It may be well to examine the relative probable chances 

 of success along other routes which have either not been so 

 thoroughly tried, or have been tried under less favourable 

 conditions. 



Passing over the unfortunate expedition under Hugh 

 Willoughby in 1553, the first attempt to penetrate within the 

 Polar domain was made by Henry Hudson in 1607. The 

 route selected was one which many regard (and I believe 

 correctly) as the one on which there is the best chance of 

 success ; namely, the route across the sea lying to the west 

 of Spitzbergen. That Hudson, in the clumsy galleons of 

 Elizabeth's time, should have penetrated to within eight 

 degrees and a half of the Pole, or to a distance only exceed- 

 ing .Nares's nearest approach by about 130 miles, proves 

 conclusively, we think, that with modern ships, and especially 

 with the aid of steam, this route might be followed with 

 much better prospect of success than that which was adopted 

 for Nares's expedition. If the reader will examine a map of 

 the Arctic regions he will find that the western shores of 

 Spitzbergen and the north-eastern shores of Greenland, as 

 far as they have been yet explored, are separated by about 

 33 degrees of longitude, equivalent on the Both parallel of 

 latitude to about 335 miles. Across the whole breadth of 

 this sea Arctic voyagers have attempted to sail northwards 

 beyond the Both parallel, but no one has yet succeeded in 

 the attempt except on the eastern side of that sea. It was 

 here that Hudson fortunately for him directed his attack ; 



