INTRODUCTION. 
xxxvii 
cc And whereas fhips employed, both in the Spitzbergen 
u Seas, and in Davis’s Straits, have frequent opportunities 
“ of approaching the North Pole, though they have not 
u time, during the courfe of one fummer, to penetrate into 
M the Pacific Ocean: and whereas fuch approaches may 
u greatly tend to the difcovery of a comm unication between 
“ the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as be attended 
“ with many advantages to commerce and fcience, See. be 
u it enadted, That if any fhip fhall approach to within i° 
66 of the North Pole, the owner, 8ec. or commander, &c. 
66 fo approaching, fhall receive, as a reward for fuch firft 
u approach, the fum of five thoufand pounds 
That nothing might be omitted that could facilitate the 
iuccefs of Captain Cook’s expedition, fome time before he 
failed, in the beginning of the fummer of 1776, Lieutenant 
Pickerfgill, appointed Commander of his Majefty’s armed 
brig the Lion, was ordered 44 to proceed to Davis’s Straits, 
“ for the protection of the Britifh whale fifhers and that 
firft object being fecured, 44 he was then required and di- 
“ rected to proceed up Baffin’s Bay, and explore the coafts- 
“ thereof, as far as in his judgment the fame could be done 
“ without apparent rifk, taking care to leave the above 
44 mentioned Bay fo timely, as to fecure his return to Eng- 
44 land in the fall of the yearand it was farther enjoined 
to him, 44 to make nautical remarks of every kind, and to 
44 employ Mr. Lane (Malfer of the veffel under his com- 
44 mand) in furveying, making charts, and taking views of 
44 the feveral bays, harbours, and different parts of the coafts 
44 which he might vifit, and in making fuch notations there- 
44 on as might be ufeful to geography and navigation f 
* See the Statutes at Large, 1776, 16 George III. chap. 6. 
t From his MS. Inftru&ions, dated May 14, 1776. 
Pickerfgill, 
