NORTH POLE. 
preffion occurs, and which is quoted by Dr. Douglas, 
there is not a word of this “ funlhine all night.” The 
journey of Mr. Hearne proved however the practicability 
of reaching the northern fhore ; and it is much to be re¬ 
gretted that this journey has not been followed up by the 
Hudfon’s-Bay Company. 
The Hon. Daines Barrington having prefented to the 
Royal Society a feries of papers on the practicability of 
approaching the North Pole, the prefident and council of 
that fociety came to the refolution of applying to the earl 
of Sandwich, then firft lord of the admiralty, to obtain 
his majefty's fanCtion for an expedition to be fitted out 
for the purpofe of trying how far navigation might be 
practicable towards the North Pole. This expedition his 
majefty was pleafed to direCl fliould be immediately un¬ 
dertaken, “ with every encouragement that could coun¬ 
tenance fuch an enterprife, and every affiftance that could 
contribute to its fuccefs.” 
Two fhips, the Racehorfe and Carcafs bombs, as being 
the ftrongeft, were therefore fixed upon as the moll proper 
for the purpofe; the former having on-board a comple¬ 
ment of ninety men, and the latter eighty, with an addi¬ 
tional number of officers. The command of the expedi¬ 
tion was given to the Hon. Capt. Conllantine John Phipps, 
(afterwards lord Mulgrave,) who embarked in the Race¬ 
horfe, and Capt. Skeifington Lutwidge was appointed to 
the command of the Carcafs. Two mailers of Greenland 
fhips were employed as pilots. Mr. Ifrael Lyons was re¬ 
commended by the board of longitude as allronomer; and 
inftruments of various kinds, of the bell defcription at 
that time in ufe, were fent on this interelling voyage. 
The two (hips failed from the Nore on the xoth of June, 
1773; on the 27th they had an obfervation of the fun at 
midnight, which gave the latitude to be 74.. 26. and in 
the evening of that day reached the latitude of the f'outh 
part of Spitzbergen with a fair wind, tvithout an increafe 
of cold, and without any appearance of ice or fight of 
land. A piece of drift-wood, which was fir, was picked 
up, and not worm-eaten. On the 29th they Hood in 
with the land, which was formed by “high barren black 
rocks, without the leall mark of vegetation; in many 
places bare and pointed, in other parts covered with 
fnow, appearing even above the clouds ; the valleys be¬ 
tween the high dills were filled with fnow or ice. This 
profpeft would have fuggelled the idea of perpetual win¬ 
ter, had not the mildnefs of the weather, the fmooth 
water, bright funlhine, and conllant daylight, given a 
cheerfulnefs and novelty to the whole of this finking and 
romantic fcene.” On this day the latitude obferved was 
77.59. 11. A mountain was meafured which was 1503 
yards in height. The weather along the coaft continued 
to be moderate and fine. At midnight the latitude was 
78. 23.4.6. the dip of the magnetic needle 80.45. 
On the 4th of July the latitude of Magdalena Hoek 
was afcertained to be 79. 34. the fame as Fotherby ob- 
lerved it to be in 1614. On the 5th they fell in with the 
main body of the ice, along which they Hood, to afcer- 
tain whether it joined to the land of Spitzbergen, or was 
lo detached as to afford an opportunity of palling to the 
eaftward ; but the pilots and officers thought it imprafti- 
cable to proceed in that direction, and augured that they 
would probably foon be befet where they were, as this was 
about the fpot where moll of the old dilcoverers had been 
Hopped. With great difficulty they worked their way- 
through the more loofe parts of the ice towards the north- 
weft. A heavy fwell and thick weather caufed them to 
tack and to Hand towards Hakluyt’s Headland. On the 
morning of the 9th, the ice was found to be quite fad to 
the weft, being then in longitude 2. 2. E.by their reckon¬ 
ing, which Capt. Phipps oblerves was the farthell to 
the wellvvard of Spitzbergen they ever got on the voyage. 
In the evening of the fame day the latitude was 80. 36. N. 
Having run along the edge of the ice from eall to well 
above ten degrees, “ I now,” fays Capt. Phipps, “ began 
to conceive that the ice was one compaCt impenetrable 
191 
body.” He then Hood over to the eallward, and on the 
13th came to anchor in Vogelfang ; a good roadllead, near 
a remarkable point called Cloven Cliff, which is “a bare 
rock, fo called from the top of it refembling a cloven 
hoof, which appearance it has always worn, having been 
named by fome of the firft Dutch navigators who fre¬ 
quented thefe feas. This rock, being entirely detached 
from the other mountains, and joined to the reft of the 
ifland by a low narrow ilthmus, preferves in ail fituations 
the fame form; and, being nearly perpendicular, it is 
never difguifed by fnow:” its latitude is 79. 53. N. lon¬ 
gitude 9. 59. 30. E. the variation of the compafs was 20. 
38. W. dip 82. 7. Here they afcertained the going of the 
pendulum, which had been adjulled to vibrate feconds in 
London. The thermometer differed very little at noon 
and at midnight, being 58 J at the former, and 51 at the 
latter. On the 16th, the weather being fine and clear, 
the thermometer in the fnade role, by expofure to the fun 
for a few minutes, from 49 to 89^. and remained fo for 
fome time, till a fmall breeze fpringing up made it fall io° 
almoft inllantly. 
Again on the 18th the Ihips Hood to the eallward, along 
the edge of the ice; but were for a third time flopped 
about the fame place, by finding the ice locked in with 
the and, without any paflage either to the northward or 
the eallward. There were fmall openings, however, into 
one of which they proceeded as far as 80. 34. For the 
fourth time Capt. Phipps made an attempt to get to the 
eallward ; palled Moffen Ifland ; and, in working among 
loofe ice, proceeded as far to the northward, on the 27th, 
as 80. 48. by the reckoning, when they were Hopped by 
the main body of the ice, which extended in a line 
nearly eall and well. By obfervation at midnight the la¬ 
titude was 80.37. and their longitude the following day, 
when in fight of the Seven IJlands, was 15. 16. 45. E. Some 
of the officers landed on a low fiat ifland in the mouth of 
Waygat Strait, on which they found feveral large fir-trees 
lying on the Ihore, fixteen or eighteen feet above the level 
of the fea; fome of them, feventy feet in length, had 
been torn up by the roots, others had been cut down with 
an axe, and notched for twelve-feet lengths; this tim¬ 
ber was no ways decayed, or the llrokes of the hatchet 
in the leafteffaced. The beach was formed of old timber,, 
land, and whale-bones. The middle of this ifland was 
covered with mofs, fcurvy-grafs, forrel, and a few ranun- 
culufes then in flower. Two rein-deer were feeding on 
the mofs, one of which they killed, and found it fat"and' 
of high flavour. On the return of the officers they 
wounded a fea-horfe, which dived immediately and 
brought up with it a number of others. They all joined 
in an attack upon the boat, wrelled an oar from one of 
the men, and were with difficulty prevented from Having 
or overfetting the boat. 
On the 30th of July the weather was exceedingly fine 
and mild, and unufually clear: “ The fcene,” fays Capt. 
Phipps, “was beautiful and piCturefque; the two fhips 
becalmed in a large bay, with three apparent openings 
between the iflands that formed it, but every-where fur- 
rounded with iceas far as we could fee, with lome ftreams 
of water; not a breath of air; the water perfectly fmooth; 
the ice covered with fnow, low and even, except a few 
broken pieces near the edges ; the pools of water in the 
middle of the pieces were frozen over with young ice. 
The fhips -were now befet in the ice; and the pilots, 
being much farther than they had ever been, and the 
feafon advancing, feemed to be alarmed at their fituation. 
On the 1 ft of Auguft the ice began to prefs in fall; there 
was not the fmallefl opening. The ice, which had 
hitherto been flat and almoft level with the water’s edge, 
was now in many places forced higher than the main yard 
by the pieces fqueezing together. The latitude was So. 
37. N. Ion. 19. o. 15.E. On the 3d the men began to cut 
a paflage through the ice, and work through the fmall open¬ 
ings to the wellvvard; the ice was deep; having fawed 
fometimes through pieces twelve feet thick, they laboured 
3 a whole 
1 
