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Spitzbergen ran againft a large piece of ice, and was loft, the 

 fhips being then feparated to a considerable diftance. The 

 winds in thefe feas are generally Northerly ; the Southerly winds 

 are commonly damp and cold. 



Having thus ftated the memorandum as I received it from Dr. 

 Mafkelyne, I mail now make fome obfervations on the contents. 



It appears by the preceding pages, that in this fame year, viz. 

 1754, both Mr. Ware and Mr. Adams 0 failed to 82 0 and an 

 half, and 83 degrees during the month of June, and both of 

 them conceived that they might have reached the North Pole. 



Mr. Maifter, by letter from Hull, dated February 24, 1777, 

 hath procured me the following information from a friend of 

 his, who, at my defire, inquired at Whitby with regard to any 

 mips having reached high Northern latitudes. 



" Captain Brown of the Freelove fays', that in the year 1770, 

 " he was certainly in 82° North latitude, when the water was 

 " clear. Captain Cole alfo of the Henrietta fays, that in 1776, 

 " he was near the latitude of 8i° North, and after he was certain 

 " of being in that latitude, he was, with ftrong South Eaft gales, 

 " drove for three days to the Northward, but as he had thick 

 " weather, the diftance was uncertain. In the courfe of this 

 " drift he met with nothing but loofe ice." 



It appears alfo by the above account that Mr. Stephens had 

 proceeded as far as 84 0 and an half, the fea being open to the 

 Northward a month earlier in this fame year. 



From this and other facts of the fame kind, I cannot but 

 infer that the attempt mould be made early in the feafon ;. if 

 I am right alfo in what I have before fuppofed, that the ice 

 which often packs near the coafts of Spitzbergen comes chiefly 

 from the rivers, which empty themfelves into the Tartarian 



0 See the Probability of reaching the North Pole, p. 42, &c- 



fea, 



