While They Were In Their Winter
Quarters At Port Jackson, They Received Little Or No Assistance From The
Servants Of The Hudson's Bay Company.
On resuming their voyage, and
reaching the vicinity of Knight's Island, the needles of their compasses
lost their magnetic quality, which they did not recover till they were kept
warm.
Proceeding northwards, they examined Wager's Strait; but in
consequence of a difference of opinion between the commanders, they
returned to England. The only points ascertained by this voyage were, that
Wager's Strait was a deep bay, or inlet, and that there existed another
inlet, which, however, they did not explore to the termination, named by
them Chesterfield's Inlet. The fresh buffalo's flesh, which was sold to
them by the Esquimaux, was probably the flesh of the musk ox.
After this voyage nothing was done, either by the Hudson's Bay Company,
government, or individuals, towards the exploring of a passage in the
north, till the year 1762, when the company, coinciding with the opinion
that was then prevalent, that Chesterfield's Inlet ought to be examined, as
affording a fair prospect of a passage into the Pacific Ocean, sent a
vessel to determine this point. The report of the captain, on his return,
was, that he had sailed up the inlet in a westerly direction for more than
one hundred and fifty miles, till he found the water perfectly fresh; but
he acknowledged that he did not go farther, or reach the head of it. As the
result of this voyage was deemed unsatisfactory, still leaving the point
which it had been its object to determine doubtful, the same captain was
again sent out, in company with another ship, with express directions to
trace the inlet to its western limits, if practicable. They ascertained
that the fresh water, which had been discovered in the former voyage, was
that of a river, which was the outlet of a lake, and this lake they
explored; it was twenty-four miles long, and six or seven broad; they
likewise found a river flowing into the lake from the west, but they were
prevented from exploring it to any great distance by falls, that
intercepted the progress of their boats. These particulars are detailed in
Goldson's Observations on the Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans; the voyages themselves were never published, do not seem to be
generally known, and have escaped the notice of Forster, the author of the
History of Voyages and Discoveries in the North. Forster is likewise silent
respecting an expedition that was equipped and sent out by some gentlemen
of Virginia in 1772, to attempt a north-west passage. The captain on his
return reported that he reached a large bay in latitude 69 deg. 11', which he
supposed hitherto unknown; that from the course of the tides, he thought it
probable there might be a passage through it, but that as this bay was
seldom free from ice, the passage could seldom if ever be practicable.
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