174 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
made, and taking advantage of every slight opening, the 
ships at length reached open water. They passed Hakluyt 
Headland, and came to anchor in Smeerenburg Harbour 
in company with some Dutch whalers. Very heavy weather 
was encountered during the voyage home, but the ships 
reached the Thames safely and were paid off in October, 
1773- . 
This was an ably conducted expedition, and should 
have shown the folly of attempting to approach the pole 
by trying to make headway against ice drifting south, 
without the refuge of a land-floe. But it did not. Captain 
Phipps published an interesting narrative of the voyage, 
prefaced by a review of former attempts, with some 
valuable scientific appendixes. He succeeded to the 
barony of Mulgrave on his father's death in the following 
year, and marrying into an old naval Yorkshire family, 
Cholmley of Howsham, left an only daughter when he 
died in 1792. Captain Phipps was among the ablest of 
our scientific Arctic explorers 1 . 
One important interest connected with the expedition 
of Captain Phipps is the presence of Nelson as a mid- 
shipman on board the Carcass. The future hero thus 
gained his first naval experience in the Arctic regions, 
as other naval heroes of lesser fame have done before 
and since his time. Nelson's continued friendship for, 
and correspondence with, his old captain show that 
his Arctic work was not forgotten in after life. It is 
this phase of exploration that has the highest importance. 
Great as are the commercial advantages obtained from 
Arctic discovery, and still greater as are its scientific 
results, the most important of all are its uses as a nursery 
for our seamen, as a school for our future Nelsons, and 
as affording the best opportunities for distinction to young 
naval officers in time of peace. 
1 A Voyage towards the North Pole, 1773 (4-to, pp. 76 and 177), Bowyer 
and Nichols, 1774. Sir Albert Markham also published the narrative of 
a midshipman named Floyd, who was serving on board the Racehorse, in 
a book entitled Northward Ho (Macmillan, 1879). Sir Albert obtained a 
correct list of the officers from the Admiralty. 
