[ 5° ] 



a fecond fhip in 1767, and as I had other concerns in Shipping, 

 thought it molt prudent (being brought up to the fea, and having 

 made an eafy fortune from it) to go a voyage to the Greenland 

 feas, to fee with my own eyes what chance there might be of 

 making or lofmg a fortune. So failed from Hull the 14th day 

 of April, in my fhip the Britim Queen, with an old experienced 

 mafter, and on the 24th and 25th of April was in the latitude of 

 7 2°, catching feals amongft great quantities of loofe ice. As we 

 did not choofe to flay in that latitude, we made the beft of our 

 way North ; and after failing through loofe ice, which is com- 

 monly the cafe, about the 6th of May we were as far North as 

 latitude 8o°, (which is near what the matters call a fijh'mg latitude) 

 and about 1 5 leagues Weft of Hakluyt's Headland. I found the 

 further North the lefs quantity of ice; and from the enquiry I 

 made, both from the Englifh and Dutch, which was very consi- 

 derable, there is a great probability of fhips going to the Pole, if 

 not flopped by meeting land or rocks. It appeared to me, that 

 the narrower! place in thofe feas was betwixt Spitsbergen and the 

 American fhore, where the current is obferved to come always 

 from the North, which fills this narrow place with ice, but in 

 general loofe and floating in the furrimer, though I believe 

 congealed and permanent in winter. Thofe from whom I en- 

 quired informed me, that the fea was abundantly clearer to the 

 North of Spitzbergen, and the further North the clearer. This 

 feems to prove a wide ocean and a great opening to the North, 

 as the current comes from thence that fills this pafTage as afore- 

 faid. The beft method of reaching the higheft latitude in my 

 opinion is, to hire two vefTels of about 250 tons burthen each, 

 and if clone on a frugal fcheme, the fame mips might be fitted 

 for the whale fifhery, and premiums given both for the ufe of the 

 fhip and crew, in proportion to their approach to the Pole, which, 



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