Captain Franklin, in his over-land expedition to the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, obtained the first ac curate knowledge of the American coast of the Frozen Sea. His researches were perfectly satisfactory, as far as they extended ; and it was owing only perhaps to some unfortunate contingencies, to the extreme hardships he encountered, that the complete design of his laborious adventure did not fully succeed ; for cer tainly, as much was accomplished as human persever ance could encounter.
A portion of the eastern side of Greenland, lying be tween the parallels of 72° and 73° north, we have ob served, was discovered by Henry Hudson in the year 1607; but we have no record of any person having ever landed upon the coast, except Captain Scoresby, Jun. nor have we any details concerning it, excepting what we derive from the journal and researches of this navi gator.* Captain Scoresby, in his annual visits to the Greenland whale fishery, has at different times obtained sight of this coast, which for centuries was supposed to be confined within an impenetrable zone of ice. In the summer of 1822, however, the first opportunity for minute research, compatible with the leading designs of his voyage, occurred. Ile penetrated the ice to an extent of 150 miles towards the west, as soon as it was possible to accomplish a passage. On the 7th of June he saw land (the east coast of Greenland) in the parallel of 75°, and remained generally within sight of it until the 26th of August. During this interval Captain Scores by, notwithstanding the arduous duties of his profession, and the want of proper assistance for such a work, ac complished a survey of nearly the whole line of coast from latitude to consisting of an extent, in cluding the various indentations and flexures, of near 800 geographical miles.f By this survey, it was found that the coast was in general so totally unlike what it is represented to he in our best charts, both as to form and position, that the greater part of the land he visited and explored may safely be considered as a new coun try. Various islands and inlets were discovered, and names were given to the most striking parts of the coast. One of the inlets was penetrated and examined by Capt. Scoresby, with the assistance of his father, to the depth of fifty or sixty miles. Capt. Scoresby's re
searches towards the south were limited by the leading objects of the voyage, otherwise he had no doubt of be ing able to proceed along shore betwixt the land and the ice, had he had a justifiable motive, down to Cape Farewell, and had every prospect of being able to de termine the fate of the ancient Norwegian colonies, re specting which there is such a general and intense in terest.
!laving now briefly traced the progress of geogra phical discovery within the Arctic circle, we shall con clude this division of our article with a notice of the highest advances made towards the north pole.
The first attempt to reach the north pole, of which we have any account, was undertaken about the year 1527, at the suggestion of one Robert Thorne, of Bris• tol, who proposed the scheme of the trans-polar passage for shortening the voyage to India. The result of this attempt is not known. After this voyage, the passage across the pole was successively attempted by Barentz in 1596, Hudson in 1607, Jonas Poole in 1610 and 1611, Baffin and Fotherby in 1614, Fotherby in 1615, Phipps in 1773, and Buchan in 1818.
The highest latitude attained by any of these naviga tors, it would appear, did not exceed 81°. Probably Phipps, who penetrated to 80° 48', was the nearest to the pole. Some of the whalers, however, who pursue the Mysticetus in these frozen regions, have proceeded still farther north. Dailies Barrington, in his discussion of the question respecting " the probability of reaching the north pole," gives a number of instances of whalers having attained higher latitudes than Phipps by several degrees. But as his information was derived entirely from oral communications, there is reason to believe that most of his examples were greatly exaggerated by the persons from whom he derived them. The closest approximation to the pole that is fully authenticated, was doubtless that of Captain Scoresby, Sen. who, in the year 1806 penetrated the northern ice, with a single ship, as high as 81° 30' north4 The whale-fishers almost annually sail to the latitude of 80°, or 801-° ; but the extent reached by Capt. Scores by, Sen. is very rarely attainable.