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542 PHIPPS’s JOURNAL.
to many individuals for hints; amongft whom it is with pleafure I mention Monfieur
D’Alembert, who communicated to me a fhort paper, which, from the concifenefs and
elegance with which it was drawn up, as well as from the number of interefting objects
that it recommended to my attention, would have done honour to any perfon whofe
reputation was not already eftablifhed upon fo folid a foundation as that learned philo-
fopher’s. ‘fo Mr. Banks I was indebted for very full in{tructions in the branch of
natural hiftory, as 1 have fince been for his afliftance in drawing up the account of the
productions of ‘that countr y; which I acknowledge with peculiar fatisfa€tion, as inftances
ofa very long friendfhip which I am happy in an opportunity of mentioning.
As a voyage of this kind would probably afford many opportunities of making expe-
riments and obfervations in matters relative to navigation, I took care to provide myfelf
with all the beft inftruments hitherto in ufe, as well as others which had been imper-
fectly, or never, tried.
The length of the fecond pendulum in fo high a latitude as I was likely to reach, ap-
pearing to me an experiment too interefting to be neglected, I defired Mr. Cumming
to make me fuch an in{trument as he thought would beft anfwer the purpofe. That
modeity and candour which always attend real merit, induced him to lend me the iden-
tical pendulum with which Mr. Graham had made his experiments, rather than furnifh
ine with one of his own contruction ; but the judgment as well as kill with which the
apparatus joined to it was contrived and executed, notwith{tanding the fhortnefs of the
time, will, I am fure, do him credit.
‘The Board of Longitude fent two watch machines for keeping the longitude by differ-
ence of time: one conftructed by Mr. Kendal, on Mr. Harrifon’s principles; the other
by Mr. Arnold. I had alfo a pocket watch conftructed by Mr. Arnold, by which I kept
the longitude to a degree of exactitude much beyond what I could have expected; the
watch having varied from its rate of going only 2’ 40” in one hundred and twenty-eight
days.
in the Journal which follows, I mean to confine myfelf to the occurrences of the
voyage as they fucceeded in order of time, which, for the convenience of the generality
of readers, I have reduced from the nautical to the civil computation: to this I fhall
add, by way of Appendix, an account of all the experiments and obfervations under their
refpective heads, that thofe who intereft themfelves in any particular branch, may find
whatever they want, unmixed with foreign matters ; while thofe who may with only to
trace the whole progrefs of the voyage, as well as thofe who may be fatisfied with the
general refults of the experiments, will find the account unincumbered with that detail
which I wilh to fubmit to others, who may chufe to examine more minutely, and com-
pare the facts with the conclufions.
A voyage of a few months to an uninhabited extremity of the world, the great object of
which was to afcertain a very interefting point in geography, cannot be fuppofed to afford
much matter for the gratification of mere curiofity. ‘The experiments and obfervations
may poflibly from their novelty, and the peculiar circumftances of the climate in which
they were made, afford fome entertainment to philofophers ; and might perhaps have
been more numerous and fatisfaCtory, if the purfuit of the great object of the voyage had
not rendered them, however interefting in themfelves, but a fecondary confideration.
JOURNAL.
Apri the nineteenth, 1773, I received my commiffion for the Racehorfe, with an
arder to get her fitted with the greateft difpatch for a voyage of difcovery towards the
North Pole, and to proceed to the Nore for further orders.
10 The
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