in 1556; the West Coast of Greenland, by Davis, in 1585;
Davis's Straits, by Davis, in 1587; Spitzbergen, by Willoughby, in
1596; Hudson's Bay, by Hudson, in 1610; Baffin's Bay, by Baffin, in
1616.

In more modern times, Hearne, Mackenzie, John Ross, Parry, Franklin,
Richardson, Beechey, James Ross, Back, Dease, Simpson, Rae,
Inglefield, Belcher, Austin, Kellett, Moore, McClure, Kennedy, and
McClintock have continually searched those unknown lands.

The limits of the northern coasts of America had been fixed, and the
North-West passage almost discovered, but this was not enough; there
was something better still to be done, and John Hatteras had twice
attempted it by equipping two ships at his own expense. He wanted
to reach the North Pole, and thus crown the series of English
discoveries by one of the most illustrious attempts. To attain the
Pole was the aim of his life.

After a few successful cruises in the Southern seas, Hatteras
endeavoured for the first time, in 1846, to go north by Baffin's Sea;
but he could not get beyond the seventy-fourth degree of latitude;
he was then commanding the sloop _Halifax_. His crew suffered
atrocious torments, and John Hatteras pushed his adventurous
rashness so far, that, afterwards, sailors were little tempted to
re-commence similar expeditions under such a chief.

However, in 1850 Hatteras succeeded in enrolling on the schooner
_Farewell_ about twenty determined men, tempted principally by the
high prize offered for their audacity. It was upon that occasion that
Dr. Clawbonny entered into correspondence with John Hatteras, whom
he did not know, requesting to join the expedition, but happily for
the doctor the post was already filled up. The _Farewell_, following
the track taken in 1817 by the _Neptune_ from Aberdeen, got up to
the north of Spitzbergen as far as the seventy-sixth degree of
latitude. There the expedition was compelled to winter. But the
sufferings of the crew from the intense cold were so great that not
a single man saw England again, with the exception of Hatteras himself,
who was brought back to his own country by a Danish whaler after a
walk of more than two hundred miles across the ice.

The sensation produced by the return of this one man was immense.
Who in future would dare to follow Hatteras in his mad attempts?
However, he did not despair of beginning again. His father, the brewer,
died, and he became possessor of a nabob's fortune. Soon after a
ge