Calendar of Discovery and Invention

Abstract

November 20, 1817,—It was in 1743 that the Government first offored reward for the discovery of a North-West Passage, and several attempts were made in the eighteanth century to find a passage. The resumption of such expeditions after the Napoleonic was largely due to the Royal Society, Sir Joseh Hanks writing on Nov. 20, 1817, to Lord Melville “that discoveries may now be made … not only i nteronting to the advancement of science, but also to the futui ercourse of mankind and the commerce of distant intereourse.” The outcome of the suggestion was the fitting out of the Isabella, Alex- ander, Dorothea and Trent, respectively, under the command of Ross, Parry, Buchan, and Franklin.