2 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN 
melancholy success, — all these circumstances have im¬ 
parted to the arctic expeditions of our own time a 
romantic interest, which they may be thought to possess 
in a higher degree than similar enterprises of an earlier 
period. Yet the history of voyages for Northern dis¬ 
covery has been marked from the beginning by a like 
courageous spirit, inspired by an equal zeal; and has 
been varied by not less striking experiences of disaster 
and success, of suffering and escape, of endurance and 
death. 
In smaller and clumsier vessels, with less of nautical 
science, and far fewer appliances for comfort and 
security, the same seas were explored, in nearly the 
same places and almost to the same extent, more than 
two centuries ago. And far within those frozen regions, 
among the floating mountains of ice and amid the 
more dangerous forms of drift and pack, were found 
two centuries ago, as they are found now, the hardy 
whalemen, pursuing their prey to the utmost limits of 
practicable navigation; sometimes following the course 
of discovery, and sometimes leading the way; asking 
no admiration for their courage, no sympathy for 
their sufferings, and no recompense of renown for the 
perils they encountered and the obstacles they over¬ 
came. 
The progress of ocean fishery is inseparably con¬ 
nected with that of polar navigation, not merely as its 
principal practical result, but as a main source of 
its early encouragement and support. It is to private 
mercantile enterprise that our knowledge of that portion 
of the globe is chiefly due, either as stimulating the 
