Living in High Latitudes, 87 



Rem-arks on the different success y with respect to Healthy 

 of some A ttempts to Pass the Winter in high Norther Jt 

 Latitudes. By John Aikin, M.D. Read January 16, 

 1782.^ 



We extract the following (p. 90) : — 

 * Towards the beginning of the last century, several 

 voyages of discovery were made in the Northern Seas ; 

 and the Greenland whale fishery began to be pursued with 

 ardour by various European nations. These two circum- 

 stances have given rise to various instances of wintering 

 in the dreary and desolate lands of high Northern lati- 

 tudes ; and the surprising difference of success attending 

 these attempts must strike every reader. 



^ The first remarkable relation of this kind that I have 

 found, is that of the wintering of Captain Monck, a Dane, 

 in Hudson's Bay, latitude 61° 20^ He had been sent on 

 a voyage of discovery with two ships, well provided with 

 necessaries, the crews of which amounted to sixty-four 

 persons. The ships being locked up in the ice, they 

 landed, and erected huts for passing the winter, which they 

 occupied in September, 161 9. At the beginning of their 

 abode here, they got abundance of wild-fowl, and some other 

 fresh provision ; but the cold soon became so intense that 

 nothing further was to be procured abroad, and they were 

 obliged to take to their ship-stores. The severity of the cold 

 may be conceived from their seeing ice three hundred and 

 sixty feet thick, and from their beer, wine, and brandy 

 being all frozen to the very centre. The people soon 

 began to be sickly, and their sickness increased with the 

 cold. Some were affected by gripes and looseness, which 



» Vol. i. p. 89. 



