[ 3« ] 



On this Captain Wilfon and Mr. Ware defifted, as the crew 

 had thefe very lingular apprehenfions ; efpecially as they had no 

 whales in fight to the Northward, which alone would juftify the 

 attempt to their owners 6 . It need fcarcely be obferved, how- 

 ever, that the notion which prevailed among the crew (hews, 

 that the common feamen on board the Greenland mips conceive, 

 that the fea is open to the Pole ; they would otherwife have ob- 

 jected on account of the ice being fuppofed to increafe. * It 

 £hould feem alfo, that the practicability of reaching the Pole is a 

 point which they often difcufs amongft themfelves. 



In this fame year and month, Mr. John Adams (who now is 

 matter of a flourifhing academy at Waltham Abbey, in Effex) 

 was on board the Unicorn, Captain Guy, when they anchored 

 in Magdalena Bay f , on the Weftern coafl of Spitzbergen and 

 N. lat. 79° 35'. 



They continued in this bay for three or four days, and then 

 flood to the Southward, when the wind fremning from that 

 quarter, but the weather foggy, they proceeded with an eafy 

 fail for four days, expecting to meet with fields of ice, to which 

 they might make faft ; but they did not encounter fo much as 

 a piece that floated. On the fifth day the wind veered to 

 the Weftward, the weather cleared up, and Mr. Adams had a 

 good obfervation (the Sun above the Pole g ) by which he found 

 himfelf three degrees to the Northward of Hakluyt's Headland, 

 or in N. lat. 83. 



Captain Guy now declared, that he had never been fo far to 

 the Northward before, and crawled up to the main-top maft head, 



e This circumftance of not feeing any whales in that diredtion 

 accounts for Captain Guy's defifung, in the following inftance, from 

 failing to the Northward, as alfo in many others which I ihall have 

 occafion to ftate. 



f The Greenland matters moll commonly call this bay Mac-Helena. 

 * The old navigators to thefe parts call this a South Sun. 



accompanied 



