26' 23", and longitude 113 deg. 46' 43:5". On the 26th of
September they took a final leave of the ice, and about the middle of
November they arrived in the Thames.
In every point of view this voyage was extremely creditable to Captain
Parry; it is not surpassed by any for the admirable manner in which it was
conducted, for the presence of mind, perseverance, and skill of all the
arrangements and operations. It has also considerably benefited all those
branches of science to which the observations and experiments of Captain
Ross and his companions were directed, and to which we have already
adverted. Perhaps in no one point has it been of more use to mariners, than
in proving the minute accuracy of going to which chronometers have been
brought.
As this expedition very naturally encouraged the hope that a north-west
passage existed, and might be discovered and effected, and as Captain Parry
was decidedly of this opinion, government very properly resolved to send
him out again; he accordingly sailed in the spring of the year following
that of his return. He recommended that the attempt should be made in a
more southern latitude, and close along the northern coast of America, as
in that direction a better climate might be expected, and a longer season
by at least six weeks; and this recommendation, it is supposed, had its
weight with the admiralty in the instructions and discretionary powers
which they gave him.
We must now direct our attention to the southern polar regions. Geographers
and philosophers supposed that in this portion of the globe there must be
some continent or very large island, which would serve, as it were, to
counterbalance the immense tracts of land which, to the northward,
stretched not only as near the pole, as navigation had been able to
proceed, but also west and east, the whole breadth of Europe and Asia.
The second voyage of Captain Cook was planned and undertaken for the
express purpose of solving the question respecting the Terra Australis
which occupied the older maps. He sailed on this voyage in July 1772,
having under his command two ships, particularly well adapted and fitted up
for such a service, the Resolution and Adventure; he was accompanied by a
select band of officers, most of whom were not only skilful and experienced
navigators, but also scientific astronomers and geographers; there were
also two professed astronomers, two gentlemen who were well skilled in
every branch of natural history, and a landscape painter.
On the 12th of December, Captain Cook entered the loose and floating ice,
in latitude 62 deg. 10'; on the 21st he met with icebergs in latitude 67 deg.; and
by the end of the month he returned to latitude 58 deg.. On the 26th of January
in the following year, he again penetrated within the Antarctic circle, and
on the 30th, had got as far as latitude 71 deg.
