280 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
sail across the north pole, hut after encountering many 
dangers he also was forced to return. It was during 
the course of his homeward voyage that he fell in with 
the island of Jan Mayen. Soon afterwards, the discovery 
by Hudson and Davis, of the seas and straits to which 
they have given their names, diverted the attention of 
the public from all thoughts of a north-east passage, and 
the Spitzbergen waters were only frequented by ships 
engaged in the fisheries. The gradual disappearance 
of the whale, and the discovery of more profitable 
fishing stations on the west coast of Greenland, sub¬ 
sequently abolished the sole attraction for human 
beings which this inhospitable region ever possessed, 
and of late years, I understand, the Spitzbergen seas 
have remained as lonely and unvisited—as they were 
before the first adventurer invaded their solitude. 
Twice only, since the time of Fotherby, has any 
attempt been made to reach the pole on a north-east 
course. In 1773, Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord 
Mulgrave, sailed in the “ Carcass ” towards Spitzbergen, 
but he never reached a higher latitude than 81°. It was 
in this expedition that Nelson made his first voyage, 
and had that famous encounter with the bear. The next 
