ny thing.

Two years afterwards they sent out another ship under the command of a
person, who, destitute of the requisite knowledge and enterprize, was
totally unfit for such an undertaking: the result was such as might have
been anticipated--nothing was effected. An interval of twenty years passed
over, and the company again sank into apathy on the subject of a north-west
passage, when the attention of government was directed to the subject by
the enthusiasm of an Irish gentleman of the name of Dobbs. Having well
considered what preceding navigators had ascertained, and especially the
remarkable circumstance particularly noticed by Fox, that the farther he
removed from Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome the smaller was the height to which
the tide rose, and who thence inferred, that if a passage were practicable,
it must be in this direction, this gentleman applied to the company to send
out a vessel. Accordingly, a vessel was sent; but all that is known of this
voyage, and probably all that was done, amounts merely to this, that the
vessel reached 62 deg. 30' north latitude: here they saw a number of islands,
and of white whales, and ascertained that the tide rose ten or twelve feet,
and came from the north.

Mr. Dobbs next applied to government, who at his request sent out two
vessels under Captain Middleton. But Middleton, who had been in the service
of the company for many voyages, returned after having sailed up the
Welcome to Wager's River, and looked into, or perhaps sailed round, a bay,
which he named Repulse Bay. Mr. Dobbs accused him of having misrepresented
or concealed his discoveries; and there seems good ground for such an
accusation, which indeed was confirmed by the evidence of his officers, and
not explicitly denied by himself. Government was undoubtedly of opinion
that the voyage of Middleton had not determined the non-existence or
impracticability of a passage; for the next year an act of parliament was
passed, granting a reward of 20,000_l_. to the person or persons who
should discover a northwest passage through Hudson's Straits to the western
and southern ocean of America.

Stimulated by the hope of obtaining this large sum, a company was formed,
who raised 10,000_l_., in shares of 100l., with which they fitted out two
ships; the Dobbs, commanded by Captain More; and the California, by Captain
Smith. They sailed from London on the 20th of May, 1746. When they reached
the American coast near Marble Island,