Synopses & Reviews
The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Volumes 88-89 (1884) contain accounts of two captains' searches for a North-West Passage to Asia in 1631. Their explorations were beset by bad weather. Foxe circumnavigated Hudson's Bay before retreating, while James became ice-bound for the winter, losing several members of his crew before retuning to England a year after Foxe. No new attempts were made for another century, as their accounts of the harrowing conditions they endured discouraged further voyages of exploration for the desired trade route.
Synopsis
Volumes 88-89 of the publications of the Hakluyt Society (1894) describe the search for a North-West Passage.
Table of Contents
Editor's preface; Introduction: Preliminary remarks; Voyages preceding those of Foxe and James; Captain Luke Foxe's voyage; Captain Thomas James's voyage; Concluding remarks; Post-script; North-West Fox: Facsimile title-page; Address to the king; Preface to the reader; King Arthur's conquests; Octher's voyage; Voyages of the Zeni and others; Frobisher's first voyage, 1576; Frobisher's second voyage, 1577; Frobisher's third voyage, 1578; Davis's first voyage, 1585; Davis's second voyage, 1586; Davis's third voyage, 1587; Waymouth's voyage, 1602; Hall's first voyage, 1605; Hall's second voyage, 1606; Hall's third voyage, 1607; Hall's fourth voyage, 1612; Knight's voyage, 1606; Hudson's voyage, 1610-11; Button's voyage, 1612-13; Gibbon's voyage, 1614; Bylot and Baffin's first voyage, 1615; Bylot and Baffin's second voyage, 1616; Hawkridge's voyage, ?1617.