in
what was then the record for the farthest north, 72 deg. 12', a point 1128
miles from the geographical North Pole. Scores of hardy navigators,
British, French, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, and Russian, followed
Davis, all seeking to hew across the Pole the much-coveted short route
to China and the Indies. The rivalry was keen and costly in lives,
ships, and treasure, but from the time of Henry VIII for three and
one-half centuries, or until 1882 (with the exception of 1594-1606,
when, through Wm. Barents, the Dutch held the record), Great Britain's
flag was always waving nearest the top of the globe.

The same year that Jamestown was founded, Henry Hudson (1607), also
seeking the route to the Indies, discovered Jan Mayen, circumnavigated
Spitzbergen, and advanced the eye of man to 80 deg. 23'. Most valuable of
all, Hudson brought back accounts of great multitudes of whales and
walruses, with the result that for the succeeding years these new waters
were thronged with fleets of whaling ships from every maritime nation.
The Dutch specially profited by Hudson's discovery. During the 17th and
18th centuries they sent no less than 300 ships and 15,000 men each
summer to these arctic fisheries and established on Spitzbergen, within
the Arctic Circle, one of the most remarkable summer towns the world has
ever known, where stores and warehouses and reducing stations and
cooperages and many kindred industries flourished during the fishing
season. With the approach of winter all buildings were shut up and the
population, numbering several thousand, all returned home.

Hudson's record remained unequaled for 165 years, or until 1773, when J.
C. Phipps surpassed his farthest north by twenty-five miles. To-day the
most interesting fact connected with the Phipps expedition is that
Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar and of the Battle of the Nile, then a lad
of fifteen, was a member of the party. Thus the boldest and strongest
spirits of the most adventurous and hardy profession of those days
sought employment in the contest against the frozen wilderness of the
north.

The first half of the 19th century witnessed many brave ships and
gallant men sent to the arctic regions. While most of these expeditions
were not directed against the Pole so much as sent in an endeavor to
find a route to the Indies round North America--the Northwest
Passage--and around Asia--the Northeast Passage--many of them are
intimately interwoven with the conques