ect to his friends; yet the equanimity
with which he bore it, the constant flow of good spirits which continued to
the last hour, and a cheerful resignation to his fate, afforded them some
consolation. It was impossible not to feel a more than common degree of
compassion for a person whose life had been a continued scene of those
difficulties and hardships to which a seaman's occupation is subject, and
under which he at last sank. He was brought up to the navy from his
earliest youth, and had been in several actions during the war which began
in 1756, particularly in that between the Bellona and Courageux, where,
being stationed in the mizen-top, he was carried overboard with the mast,
but was taken up without having received any hurt. He was midshipman in the
Dolphin, commanded by Commodore Byron, on her first voyage round the world,
and afterward served on the American station. In 1768, he made his second
voyage round the world in the Endeavour, as master's mate, and by the
promotion which took place during the expedition, he returned a lieutenant.
His third voyage round the world was in the Resolution, of which he was
appointed the second lieutenant; and soon after his return in 1775, he was
promoted to the rank of master and commander. When the present expedition
was ordered to be fitted out, he was appointed to the Discovery, to
accompany Captain Cook; and, by the death of the latter, succeeded, as has
been already mentioned, to the chief command.

It would be doing his memory extreme injustice not to say, that during the
short time the expedition was under his direction, he was most zealous and
anxious for its success. His health, about the time the principal command
devolved upon him, began to decline very rapidly, and was every way unequal
to encounter the rigours of a high northern climate. But the vigour and
activity of his mind had, in no shape, suffered by the decay of his body;
and though he knew, that by delaying his return to a warmer climate, he was
giving up the only chance that remained for his recovery, yet, careful and
jealous to the last degree, that a regard to his own situation should never
bias his judgment to the prejudice of the service, he persevered in the
search of a passage, till it was the opinion of every officer in both ships
that it was impracticable, and that any farther attempts would not only be
fruitless but dangerous.

[25] From the circumstance, related in the last volume, that