GREENLAND OR POLAR ICE. 



325 



On the appi'oimations towards the Poles, and on 

 • the possibility oj reaching the North Pole, 



Although I am sensible^ that already I have 

 trespassed too much upon the Society, in the un- 

 expected extent of this paper, I nevertheless can- 

 not think of dismissing the subject, without com- 

 pleting my original plan, by noticing the com- 

 parative approximations towards the Poles, which 

 have been effected on different meridians ; and at 

 the same time offering, with diffidence, a few re- 

 marks on the possibility of travelling to the North 

 Pole, together with a sketch of the reasoning on 

 which the probability of success depends. 



First, It has already been remarked, that the 

 80th degree of north latitude, is almost annually 

 accessible to the Greenland whale-fishers, and 

 that this latitude, on particular occasions, has been 

 exceeded. On one of the first attempts which ap- 

 pears to have been made to explore the circumpolar 

 regions, in the year ]607, Henry Hudson pene- 

 trated the ice on the north-western coast of Spitz- 

 bergen to the latitude of 80° 23' N. In 1773, 

 Captain Phipps, on a voyage towards the North 

 Pole," advanced on a similar track to 80° 37' of 

 north latitude. In the year 1806, the ship Re- 

 solution of Whitby, commanded by niy Father^ 

 (whose extraordinary perseverance and nautical a- 

 bility are well appreciated by those in the Green- 



VOL. II. Y 



