NORTH 
vigorous or pertinacious hands, would have been fuft’ered 
to die a,way. Captain John Wood appears to have been 
a man of this (lamp ; he was known as an aftive and ex¬ 
perienced feaman, who had accompanied fir John Narbo- 
rough on his voyage through the Straits of Magellan ; 
and he now (food forward as a warm advocate for the 
practicability of (ailing by the northward or the north- 
eaftward to the Indian Seas and China ; an opinion which 
he fupported in a memorial to the king, aligning (even 
diftinCt reafons, and three arguments, for the exigence 
of fuch a paifage. His reafons were; i. That Capt. Ba- 
rentz had been of opinion that the ice did not extend 
above twenty leagues from the (bores of Greenland and 
Nova Zembla, and that the intermediate (pace of 160 
leagues was open Tea. 2. That by a letter from Holland, 
publiflied in the Philofophical TranfaCfions, it appeared 
that the Ruffians had diicovered the fea to be open on the 
north of Nova Zembla. 3. That from the report of forne 
Dutchmen wrecked on the coaft of Corea, it appeared 
that whales were caught on that coaft with Englifti and 
Dutch harpoons in them. 4. The ftory the Dutchman 
told to Mr. Jofeph Moxon. 5. The ftory of the Dutch 
fhip that went within one degree of the pole, told to him 
by Capt. Goulden. 6. The report of Capt. Goulden, 
that all the drift wood found in Greenland was eaten to 
the Very heart with the fea-worm. 7. The relation of 
two (hips which had failed 300 leagues to the ea.ft of Nova 
Zembla, publiflied in the Philofophical Tranlaftions. 
His arguments were; 1. That the pole was fully as warm 
as under the arCfic circle, and that the experience of 
Greenlanders proved this. 2. Something about winds 
and fogs, not very intelligible. 3. That the magnetic 
influence would not prevent a fafe paffage acrofs the pole. 
Thefe reafons and arguments, together with a polar 
draught, were prel'ented to his majefty and the duke of 
York. At a board of admiralty at which the king, as 
ufual in thofe days, was prefent, it was ordered that the 
Speedwell fliould be appropriated to this fervice, and the 
command of her given to Capt. Wood. And, as all voy¬ 
ages of difeovery are liable to accidents, the duke of 
York, with feveral noblemen and gentlemen, purchafed a 
pink of 120 tons, called the Profperous, to accompany the 
Speedwell. To this pink captain William Flawes was 
appointed as commander. Both fhips were well equipped 
for the occafion, victualled for fixteen months, and fup- 
plied with fuch commodities as were likely to turn to the 
beft account on the coaft of Tartary and Japan. 
The two (hips failed from the Nore on the 28th of May, 
*676, and feem to have doubled the North Cape about 
the 19th of June; but the journal of Capt. Wood is fo 
meagre, that, if it were not for his Juppofed latitudes, 
and his fituation “ according tojudgment,” it is not eafy 
to follow his track or to trace his place on any particular 
day. By the 22d, however, he had reached the lat. 75. 
59. at which time the ice appeared about a league from 
the (hip, and the weather was cold and fnowy. They 
found many openings in the ice, which allowed them to 
proceed ; and among the ice obferved (ome floating wood. 
On the 26th they got light of land, which was the weft 
coaft of Nova Zembla. The depth of the fea was 80 
fathoms, or 480 feet; yet fo fmooth and clear was the 
water, that it is dated “ they could difeern the ground 
very plain,” and even difeover the (hells at the bottom. 
On the 29th, on wearing the Speedwell to avoid the ice, 
(he (truck upon a ledge of rocks under water. The 
Profperous pink was clofe at hand, though it does not 
appear that (he was able to afford them the lead afliftance. 
They had fcarcely fucceeded in landing the bread, and 
the carpenter’s tools (to rebuild the long boat in theevent 
of the Profperous not being able to approach them on 
account of the ice), when the (hip went entirely to 
pieces, and the fog prevented them from feeing their 
confort. All the crew, however, were fafely got on-fliore, 
except two who were drowned in the pinnace; and all 
the bread, powder, and proviflons, then in that boat, 
Vol. XVIH No. 1170. 
POLE. 185 
were fpoiled or loft. After the (hip had gone to pieces, 
this lofs was amply repaid, as feveral calks of flour, but¬ 
ter, beef, and pork, were driven on-fhore, with (pars 
and other articles fufficient for making tents and for 
fuel. No human inhabitants made their appearance ; but 
a great white bear feized hold of the gunner, who, by 
giving immediate aiarm, was faved from his jaws, and 
the bear killed. 
They remained on-fhore nine days, in a fituation of 
the greateft anxiety, and but ill provided with proviflons, 
ammunition, and clothing; and without feeing any thing 
of the Profperous, on account of the foggy weather. At 
the end of this period it was propofed to fet out by land 
towards Waigatz, in the hope of meeting with fome 
Ruffian velfel to tranfport them to the continent; when, 
juft at this time, to their unfpeakable joy, they efpied, on 
the 8th of July, the Profperous, on which they made a 
great fire to point out their fituation ; and on the fame 
day the whole got fafely on-board that (hip. It is not 
difficult to forei'ee what would have been the confequence 
to the whole party had they proceeded ; for, as the boat 
could not carry above thirty men, and there were fixty-fix 
in the whole, “ this,” Wood obferves,” “ occafioned no 
(mail difeontent among us, every one challenging the 
fame right with the others; all I could do in this exi¬ 
gency was to let the brandy-bottle go round, which kept 
them always fox’d, till the 8th of July (the ninth day 
after we had been on-(hore) Capt. Flawes came fo feafon- 
ably to our relief.” 
Captain Wood, having thus loft his (hip without 
making the (mailed advancement of new difeovery, and 
without having approached by many degrees, either in 
latitude or longitude, the points already reached by 
former navigators, boldly decides that he was led into 
error by following the opinion of William Barentz; that 
all the Dutch and Englifti relations were falfe; that Nova 
Zembla and Greenland (Spitzbergen) are one and the 
fame continent; and that it is unknown hitherto whe¬ 
ther Nova Zembla be an ifte or adjoining to the continent / 
of Great Tartary. “Injuftice, however,” fays Daines 
Barrington, “ to the memories of both Englifti and Dutch 
navigators, I cannot but take notice of thefe very pe¬ 
remptory and ill-founded reflections made by Wood, and 
which feem to be dictated merely by his difappointment 
in not being able toeft’eCl his difeovery.” Barrington on 
the Poffibility of approaching the North Pole. 
Wood’s failure, to ufe the words of a learned writer, 
“feems to have clofed the long lift of unfortunate north¬ 
ern expeditions in that century; and the difeovery, if 
not abibluteiy defpaired of, by being fo often milled, 
cealed for many years to be fought for.” Introdudion to 
Cooke's lafi Voyage ; by Dr. Douglas. 
Of the unfortunate voyage, undertaken by Knight, 
Barlow, and Vaughan, in 1719, very little was ever col¬ 
lected, as the two (hips lent out upon it were loft, and 
the whole of their crews periffied. Mr. Knight, with 
whom it originated, had been long in the fervice of the 
Hudfon’s-Bay Company, and was ultimately appointed 
governor of the faCtory eftablilhed on Nelfon’s River. In 
his communications with the native Indians he had 
learned, that at fome diftance to the northward, and on 
the banks of a navigable river or inlet, into which veflels 
might go from the bay, there was a rich mine of native 
copper. On the ftrength of this information he came 
over to England to folicit the company to fit out two vef- 
fels, and fend them, under his command, to difeover 
this rich mine; but the company, for certain reafons 
which were conftrued unfavourably to the liberal views 
of the directors, refufed to comply with the propofal of 
their governor. Knight, however, did not give up his 
point. He plainly told them, “ that they were obliged 
by their charter to make difeoveries, as well as to extend 
their trade ; that they were particularly required to fearch 
for a north-weft paflage through the ftraits of Anian to 
the South Sea ; and that, if.they (till refufed to fend him 
3 B and 
