r by Mr. Arnold; and, in short, every
possible arrangement was made effectually to decide the long-agitated
question concerning the practicability of a north-east passage into the
Pacific ocean.

The report of this scientific voyage, from which so much nautical
knowledge could not fail to be derived by a youth thirsting for
professional information, most powerfully attracted the enterprising
spirit of young Nelson; who resolved, if possible, to participate in
it's advantages, without any apprehensions from the perils to which he
must necessarily be exposed in it's pursuit. It may, indeed, be justly
doubted, whether the hope of successfully encountering these very perils
might not constitute one of its chief charms for his intrepid mind.

Notwithstanding, therefore, the implied interdiction of the Admiralty,
respecting the employment of boys on this hazardous voyage, he so
powerfully pleaded with Captain Lutwidge to be appointed coxswain, and
so fully satisfied him he was not unqualified for the task, that the
worthy captain at length, kindly consented to receive him in this
capacity; and, though the Carcass, when fitted, being found too deep in
the water to proceed to sea with safety, was constrained to put part of
her guns on shore, and reduce her complement to eighty men, the young
coxswain felt himself already too firmly fixed in his captain's favour
to dread being one of the dismissed number.

On the 30th of May 1773, Captain Lutwidge, in the Carcass, joined
Captain Phipps, in the Racehorse, at the Nore: but, being delayed, by
the easterly winds, till the 4th of June, his majesty's birth-day, at six
o'clock that morning, both ships weighed; and Captain Lutwidge, having
received his orders from Captain Phipps, they immediately sailed on the
expedition.

The journal of this important voyage, during which so much was seen and
suffered, Captain Phipps published soon after his return, in a
respectable quarto volume, which contains a large fund of scientifical
and professional information.

Our young hero had recently felt the enervating effects of a burning
sun, in the torrid regions of the west; he had now speedily to encounter
the benumbing influence of a frozen atmosphere, in the torpid confines
of the north.

On the 13th of June, in the evening, land was first seen by the Carcass:
it was light enough to read on deck all night; and, the next day, some
Shetland boats came on board with fish.

After proceeding