the expedition accordingly. I was fortunate in finding an opportunity of sailing with Captain Scoresby, who was proceeding from Liverpool in command of the Greenland ship, the Baffin. The merits of Captain Scoresby, as an arctic navigator, are too generally acknowledged to need the aid of my testimony to his skill and intrepidity; and I regarded it with reason as no trifling advantage in the projected voyage, that my observation would be assisted by the fruits of his talents and experience.
Such were the circumstances under which I performed the voyage to Greenland, detailed in the following pages. In submitting my narrative to the indulgence of the public, I have studiously endeavoured to offer a plain and faithful statement of every occurrence of moment which fell under my notice. Considerations will thus be suggested for removing the obstacles and for diminishing the dangers which have so frequently led to failure in the whale-fishery; and I trust that if, from inability
