In case, however, you should not find, or should be satisfied there is not any probability of finding any such passage, or, finding it, you should not be able to get through in the vessel you command, you are then to return to England, as before-mentioned, unless you shall find any branch of the sea leading to the westward which you shall judge likely to afford a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and which you shall not be able to explore in the course of this year, it being, in that case, left to your discretion to stay the winter in the most commodious situation you can find, in order to pursue the discovery next year, if you shall find it advisable so to do; and, having discovered such passage, or not succeeded in the attempt, you are to make the best of your way to England, as above directed.
It was natural to hope, that something would have been done in one or other, or in both these voyages of the Lion, that might have opened our views with regard to the practicability of a passage from this side of America. But, unfortunately, the execution did not answer the expectations conceived. Pickersgill, who had acquired professional experience when acting under Captain Cook, justly merited the censure he received, for improper behaviour when intrusted with command in Davis's Strait; and the talents of Young, as it afterward appeared, were more adapted to contribute to the glory of a victory, as commander of a line of battle-ship, than to add to geographical discoveries, by encountering mountains of ice, and exploring unknown coasts.[37]
[Footnote 37: In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxviii. p, 1057, we have the track of Pickersgill's voyage, which, probably, may be of use to our Greenland ships, as it contains many observations for fixing the longitude and latitude of the coasts in Davis's Strait. But it appears that he never entered Baffin's Bay, the highest northern latitude to which he advanced being 68° 14'. As to Young's proceedings, having failed absolutely in making any discovery, it is of less consequence, that no communication of his journal could be procured.--D.]
Both Pickersgill and Young having been ordered to proceed into Baffin's Bay; and Captain Cook being directed not to begin his search till he should arrive in the latitude of 65°, it may not be improper to say something here of the reasons which weighed with those who planned the voyages, and framed the instructions, to carry their views so far northward, as the proper situation, where the passage, if it existed at all, was likely to be attempted with success. It may be asked, why was Hudson's Bay neglected on our side of America; and why was not Captain Cook ordered to begin his search on its opposite side, in much lower latitudes? particularly, why not explore the strait leading into the western sea of John de Fuca, between the latitudes of 47° and 48°; the Archipelago of St Lazarus of Admiral de Fonte, between 50° and 55°; and the rivers and lakes through which he found a passage north-eastward, till he met with a ship from Boston?