ect remained unattained. The Honorable
Captain Phipps (afterwards Earl Mulgrave) was sent out in the
_Racehorse_, accompanied by Captain Lutwidge, in the _Carcase_ (Lord
Nelson was a boy in this latter ship), to make observations, and to
penetrate as far as it was practicable to do so. They sailed June 2,
1773, and made Spitzbergen on the 28th; but after great exertions, they
found the ice to the northward utterly impenetrable. Once they became
closely jammed, and it was only with great difficulty they escaped
destruction. On August 22, finding it impossible to get further to the
northward, eastward, or westward, they made sail, according to their
instructions, for England, and arrived off Shetland on September 7.

Notwithstanding these numerous failures, the idea of an existing passage
was still cherished; and Earl Sandwich continuing at the head of the
Admiralty, resolved that a further trial should be made, and Captain
Cook offered his services to undertake it. They were gladly accepted,
and on February 10, 1776, he was appointed to command the expedition in
his old, but hardy ship, the _Resolution_, and Captain Clerke, in the
_Discovery_, was ordered to attend him. In this instance, however, the
mode of experiment was to be reversed, and instead of attempting the
former routes by Davis' Strait or Baffin's Bay, etc., Cook, at his own
request, was instructed to proceed into the South Pacific, and thence to
try the passage by the way of Behring's Strait; and as it was necessary
that the islands in the Southern Ocean should be revisited, cattle and
sheep, with other animals, and all kinds of seeds, were shipped for the
advantage of the natives.

Every preparation having been made, the _Resolution_ quitted Plymouth on
July 12, taking Omai, the native, from the Society Isles. Having touched
at Teneriffe, they crossed the equator September 1, and reached the Cape
on October 18, where the _Discovery_ joined them on November 10.

The ships sailed again on November 30, and encountered heavy gales, in
which several sheep and goats died. On December 12 they saw two large
islands, which Cook named Prince Edward's Islands; and three days
afterwards several others were seen; but having made Kerguelen's Land,
they anchored in a convenient harbor on Christmas day. On the north side
of this harbor one of the men found a quart bottle fastened to a
projecting rock by stout wire, and on opening it, the bottle was found
to contain a pi