88 R. W. Haskins on the Open North Polar Sea. 
In 1751 Capt. MacCallam, in the ship Campbeltown, in the — 
Greenland whale fishery, sailed to latitude 83° 30’ north, where 
the sea was not only wholly open at the north, but where 4 
had not seen a particle of ice for the last three degrees, and the 
weather warm and pleasant. In this case, to make certain of 
their position, careful observations were made, both with Davis’ 
and with Hadley’s quadrants, and by no less than three different 
persons. The captain feared to go farther, lest he should be 
blamed for neglecting his fishing, which was his only reason, as 
there was no obstruction. 
In the year 1752, Mr. John Phillips was mate of the ship 
Loyal Club, in which ship he reached 81°; and he stated that it 
was very common to seek whales in such latitudes. 
~The year 1754 was more fruitful than any prior one in re 
corded visits to this open polar sea, since we have records of no 
less than three such visits during this single year. Capt. James 
Wilson, of the whale ship Sea Nymph, made his way through _ 
all the ice, the last of which was seen below 81°, sailed thence _ 
north to 82° 15’, where the sea was perfectly clear as far as could 
be seen with the ship’s glasses. Here the ship’s officers discussed 
nas oceeding directly to the pole, but the sailors fearing to do 
so, the proposition was abandoned. In the same year the whal- — 
ing ship Unicorn, Capt. Guy, reached 83° 8’, determined by 
careful observations; and here, from the mast head, they saw 
the sea as free of ice as the Atlantic, on every side, and nothing 
in the way of sailing directly to the pole. The third instance — 
of this year is that of Mr. Stephens, who, in company with an- — 
other, a Dutch ship, was driven off Spitzbergen by a south- — 
southeast wind to latitude 84° 80’. This was within 5° 30! of — 
the pole; and he met with little ice, and the less the farther he — 
went north. a 
_ In 1756 Capt. Montgomery, of the ship Providence, pursued 
whales to latitude 83°, in the month of June, with open sea up- 
on the north. ‘ 
In 1759 Capt. H. Ford, in the ship Dolphin, went as far north 
as 81° 30’, and he states that he has since that been several times — 
as high as 81°. oe 
James Bisbrown, in the ship Prince Frederick, in 1765, reached — 
latitude 83° 40’ north, where he was beset with ice for three 
weeks, do the southward, but saw, during this time, open sea to 
the north. . 
The year 1766 has furnished us two instances of high north: 
ern navigation. Jonathan Wheatley, not finding whales soonel, 
sailed to 8L° 30’ north, in which latitude he could see no 1¢é 
whatsoever in any direction from the mast head, though the 
was a very heavy sea from the northeast. Capt. Thomas Ro 
inson, in the ship Reading, was this same year in latitude 82° 30 
with an open sea. ge 2 Sa 
