Proceeding northwards, they examined Wager’s Strait; but in consequence of a difference of opinion between the commanders, they returned to England.  The only points ascertained by this voyage were, that Wager’s Strait was a deep bay, or inlet, and that there existed another inlet, which, however, they did not explore to the termination, named by them Chesterfield’s Inlet.  The fresh buffalo’s flesh, which was sold to them by the Esquimaux, was probably the flesh of the musk ox.

After this voyage nothing was done, either by the Hudson’s Bay Company, government, or individuals, towards the exploring of a passage in the north, till the year 1762, when the company, coinciding with the opinion that was then prevalent, that Chesterfield’s Inlet ought to be examined, as affording a fair prospect of a passage into the Pacific Ocean, sent a vessel to determine this point.  The report of the captain, on his return, was, that he had sailed up the inlet in a westerly direction for more than one hundred and fifty miles, till he found the water perfectly fresh; but he acknowledged that he did not go farther, or reach the head of it.  As the result of this voyage was deemed unsatisfactory, still leaving the point which it had been its object to determine doubtful, the same captain was again sent out, in company with another ship, with express directions to trace the inlet to its western limits, if practicable.  They ascertained that the fresh water, which had been discovered in the former voyage, was that of a river, which was the outlet of a lake, and this lake they explored; it was twenty-four miles long, and six or seven broad; they likewise found a river flowing into the lake from the west, but they were prevented from exploring it to any great distance by falls, that intercepted the progress of their boats.  These particulars are detailed in Goldson’s Observations on the Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the voyages themselves were never published, do not seem to be generally known, and have escaped the notice of Forster, the author of the History of Voyages and Discoveries in the North.  Forster is likewise silent respecting an expedition that was equipped and sent out by some gentlemen of Virginia in 1772, to attempt a north-west passage.  The captain on his return reported that he reached a large bay in latitude 69 deg. 11’, which he supposed hitherto unknown; that from the course of the tides, he thought it probable there might be a passage through it, but that as this bay was seldom free from ice, the passage could seldom if ever be practicable.

In the year 1770 the Hudson’s Bay Company, more alive to the prospect of gain than to the interests of discovery and geographical science, having received some information from the Indians that copper might be obtained in great quantity far to the west of Fort Prince of Wales, resolved to dispatch Mr. Hearne, belonging to that fort, in search of it.  This gentleman made four different excursions for this purpose,