PREVIOUS ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 351, 19 January 1876, Page 3

PREVIOUS ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

At the present moment, when bo much interest U attracted by the Arctic expedition it will be interesting to give briefly some account of previous explorers to find out a north-east and southwest passage. The attempt to discover a north-west passage was first mode by a Portugese named Gorto Heal, who was licensed by Henry VII. for that purpose on condition that he sailed under the English flag, and, after paying the cost of. his expedition, gave to the king the fourth of the revenue of an unknown land he discovered. la 1585 a company was formed in London called the "Fellowship for the Discovery of the NorthWest Passage," and it was on behalf of this company that Captain Davis sailed to the Straits which bear his name to this day. From the year 1745 to 1818 Parliament offered £20,000 for the discovery of this passage, the reward being modified in the lastiinentioned year by Government promising that £,5000 ehould be paid when either 110, 120, or 130 degrees W; longitude should be passed, one of which payments was made to Captain Perry in 1824. Below ia a chronological list of all the voyages which have been made to the Arctic region for the purpose ol exploring : — May 20, 1553— Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition to find a north-eastern passage to China sailed from the Thames. In 1558 the ships were reported to.have become entangled.

in the ice off Lapland, and the whole of the expeditionary party perished. 1576— Sir Martin Frobisher sailed from the Thames to find a north-west passage to China,when he reached what was afterwards known aa Hudson's Bay.' 1585— Captain Davis' expedition' in eearch of a north-west passage. 1594— The Dutch expedition^. - under the command of Captain Barrantz,Bailed in search ' of a north-east passage. 1602 — Weymouth and Knight's' expedition. 1610 — Captain Henry Hudson first sailed in command of an expedition in search 'of the north- western passage to the Pacific. He made; • four voyageß in very quick succession, and in the course of his adventures discovered the bay which now bears his name. This wan discovered by Frobisher in Queen Elizabeth's reign, though Hudson ventured further north than the EHzabethian adventurer. Hudson, on his fourth voyage, while wintering in this bay, was thrown into a boat with four others by his sailors, and left to perish. 1612— Sir Thomas Button's expedition sailed. 1616— William Baffin Bailed with an ex« pedition, and reached the bay now known as Baffin's Bay. The extent of this discovery was much doubted until the expedition of Ross and Parry proved that Baffin was sub' stantially correct. 1631- I—Foxes"1 — Foxe's" expedition. .-. • 1742-.to 1769-+-1 742j ) MiddletonV expeditionsailed*' in 174Q Moore and Smith's, and in 1769 HearneVland expedition set out.1773—Captain' Pbipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, set oufc-onyhis. -expedition. . July 12f- 1776— Captain- Cook, .with the Resolution and Discovery. He. never again reached England, being killed -by the savages of Owhyee on the 14th of* February,-. 1779; '■ His expedition reached Sheerness on • the 4th of October, 1780. 1789— Captain Duncans's voyage. 1790— Captain Duncan sailed for the Arctic regions. 1795— The Discovery, Captain Vancouver, returned from a voyage of discovery on the north -west coast of America. 1815 — Lieutenant Kotobue's expedition*.. ]819'22— Oaptain Buchan and Lieutenant Franklin's expedition in the Dorothea and Trent. 1818 — Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry in the Isabella and Alexander. May, 4, 1819— Lieutenants Parry and Llddon in the Hecla and Griper. They returned to Leith on the 3rd of November, 1820. May 8, 1821 — Oaptain Parry and Lyon in the Fury and Heclti. 1824— Captain Parry set out on a third expedition in the Hetfa. February 16, 1825— Captains Franklin and Lyon, after having attempted a land expedii tion, Btorted for Liverpool. June 22, 1827— Captain Parry made his fourth voyage, once more in the Heola, sailed from Deptford in the Thames, and after reaohing a spot 435 miles from the North Pole, returned on the 6th of October. ' October 18, 1833— Captain Ross' expedition, after being absent for four years, and when all hope of his return had been abandoned, arrived in Hull. In 1830 he discovered Boothia Felix, and on the 31st of June, 1831, he came to a spot which he considered to be the true magnetic pole. The appearance of his ship created much surprise nnd curiosity, many going hundreds of miles to see it. The hull was all Btripped of its pninfc, and had the appearance of having been nowly planed. September 8, 1835— Captain Back and his companions arrived at Liverpool from their perilous Arctic land expedition, after having visited the Great Fish River, and examined its course to the polar seas. In December of this year the G-eographieal Society awarded to Captain Back the king's annual premium for his polar discoveries and enterprise. June 21, 1836— Captain Back sailed from Chatham in command of a war ship, Terror, on an exploring adventure in Wager River. May 24, 18-15 — Sir John Franklin, and Captains Orozier and Fitz- James, in the ships Erebus and Terror, left England for the Arctic Seas. The fatal result of this enter* prise is too well-known. January 20, 1850— Commanders Collinson and M'Clure, in the Enterprise- and Investi' gator, sailed eastward in search of Sir John Franklin, and on the 26th of October Captain M'Clure discovered the north-west passage. On September 6th he discovered high land, which he named Baring's Land ; on the 9th other land, named aftor Prince Albert j and on the 30th the ship was frozen in. In a sledge expedition, and on October 27th, reached Point Russell, and from an elevation of 600 feet he saw Parry or Melville Sound beneath. The strait connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean he named after the Prince of Wales. The Investigator was the first ship which traversed the Polar Sea from Behring Straits to Behring Island. Captain M'Clure returned to England September, 1854, was knighted, and rewarded with a gift of £5,000, an equal sum being distributed amongst his officers and crew. From 1848 to 1865 no less than 21 expedi* tions were sent in search of the Franklin ex* pedition, five of which were equipped by Lady Franklin, chiefly at her own expense. Some of these expeditions resulted in very valuable discoveries, and the remains of many of the officers were found, which proved with certainty that they had perished* 1858— Swedish Norwegian expedition by way of Spilzbergen. May 24, 1868— German expedition left Bergen, and returned in October 1871. 1871 — The Polaris, under Captain Hall, an American, having reached a higher latitude than any ship had yet attained, the crew were cast ashore at Smith's Sound, and brought to England in a Dundee whaler. June 13, 1872— AuBtro'Hungarian expedi* tion, under Lieutenant Weyprecht-and Lieu* tenant Payer, left Bremerhaven, and returnod in 1875. — Neiocastle Daily Chronicle.