Volume 1 — PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
Reading edition
The discoveries made by the expedition to the northwest in the years 1819-20 being such as to afford a strong presumption in favour of the existence of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in that direction, his majesty commanded another attempt to be made to effect that object; and the lords commissioners of the admiralty were pleased once more to honour me with the command of an expedition, to be equipped at Deptford for that purpose. The Hecla having been found well adapted to this service, a second ship of precisely the same class was now selected, and I received my commission for his majesty's ship the Fury, of three hundred and seventy-seven tons burden, on the 30th of December, 1820. The Hecla was recommissioned by Captain George Francis Lyon on the 4th of January following.
In our official instructions I was directed to proceed, as quickly as might be consistent with every precaution, towards or into Hudson's Strait until the ice was met with, when the Nautilus transport, which was directed by the navy board to be placed at my disposal, was to be cleared of its provisions and stores. We were then to penetrate to the westward, through Hudson's Strait, until we reached (either in Repulse Bay, or on other part of the shores of Hudson's Strait to the north of Wager River) some part of the coast, which I felt convinced was a portion of the Continent of America.
If we happily reached the Pacific, we were to proceed to Kamschatka, from thence to the Sandwich Islands or Canton, and, having refitted the ships and refreshed the crews, to return to England by such route as might be deemed convenient.