The

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

worked together to commission the Northwest Passage expedition of 1741. The commander of the expedition, Christopher Middleton, had been a captain of ships of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

, sailing on these ships that made annual voyages to supply the company's outposts, since 1721. He had a scientific mind, and had published observations that earned him election the Royal Society, in 1737. He commanded , while his cousin and protege,

William Moor William Moor (died 1765) was a British sailor and explorer associated with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the annual supply ships to the bay area. Moor was involved, under the supervision of his cousin, Christopher Middleton, with voyages ...

, also formerly a captain of Hudson's Bay Company ships, commanded .

Arthur Dobbs Arthur Dobbs (2 April 1689 – 28 March 1765) was a British colonial official who served as the seventh governor of North Carolina from 1754 until 1764. Early life and career Dobbs was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, where his mother had been sen ...

, a member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

played an influential role in organizing the expedition.

Orders

J.C. Beaglehole, in his ''Life of Captain James Cook'', notes that the expedition was commissioned in 1740, the same year George Anson was directed to lead a squadron into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, to attack Spanish shipping. He noted that Middleton's orders suggested he might rendezvous with Anson, off

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Vessels and crew

Voyage

Ice blocks navigation in Hudson's Bay for over half the year. Middleton was able to get the government to put pressure on the Hudson's Bay Company to allow his ships to moor off Fort Prince of Wales, at the mouth of the Churchill River, and to provide room for his crew, during the winter of 1742, so he could begin his expedition as soon as the Bay was free of ice. His crew were housed in an older wooden fort that had been abandoned, in place of the new stone fort. Ten of his crew died, over the winter, and many others lost fingers and toes to frostbite. The expedition was able to set off in June 1742. They proceeded north to a deep indentation he eventually named

Wager Bay Wager Bay or Ukkusiksalik Bay is long narrow inlet in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada, which opens east into Roes Welcome Sound at the northwest end of Hudson Bay. Ukkusiksalik National Park surrounds it. History Wager Bay was first c ...

, after

Charles Wager Admiral Sir Charles Wager (24 February 1666 – 24 May 1743) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1733 to 1742. Despite heroic active service and steadfast administration and diplomatic service, ...

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

Aftermath

Dobbs thought that Middleton's reports that he did not find a Northwest Passage were part of a hoax, and the two men conducted a pamphlet campaign, denouncing each other.

James Cook's third expedition

Captain James Cook's third and final expedition sent him back to the Pacific Ocean, to look for a Northwest Passage from the Pacific end. Cook consulted with Middleton, prior to his departure.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mIk8x6lsusQC&pg=PA477&lpg=PA477&dq=%22James+Cook%22+%22Christopher+Middleton%22#q=%22James%20Cook%22%20%22Christopher%20Middleton%22 , title = The Life of Captain James Cook , author = J. C. Beaglehole , publisher = Stanford University Press , year = 1992 , page = 477 , isbn = 9780804720090 , accessdate = 2020-02-05 , quote = having penetrated it he was to explore the western American coast, form alliance with the inhabitants, take possession of the country, winter on the coast or on some suitable island or return through the passage, as he thought best, perhaps meet Anson off California {{cite news , url = https://www.bl.uk/the-voyages-of-captain-james-cook/articles/18th-century-voyages-for-the-northwest-passage?mobile=on , title = 18th-century voyages for the Northwest Passage , work =

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, accessdate = 2020-02-05 , quote = The instigator of both of these expeditions was the indefatigable Irish MP Arthur Dobbs who was one of the main publicists for the Northwest Passage. Dobbs fell out with Middleton after the latter failed to find a passage and a pamphlet war between the two ensued. {{cite news , url = https://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/christopher-middleton-north-west-passage-expedition-1741%E2%80%9342 , title = Christopher Middleton North-West Passage expedition 1741–42 , work =

Royal Museums Greenwich Royal Museums Greenwich is an organisation comprising four museums in Greenwich, east London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just un ...

, accessdate = 2020-02-05 , quote = Middleton concluded that his new discovery was indeed a closed bay and did not lead to the North-West Passage. When the expedition left Wager Bay it headed north into Roes Welcome Sound. Ice made a journey into the Foxe Basin impossible and an investigation of Repulse Bay left Middleton satisfied that there was no route to the Pacific by heading west, so he set sail for England. {{cite DCB , url = http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/moor_william_3E.html , title = Moor, William , author =

Glyndwr Williams Glyndwr Williams (1932–24 January 2022) was a professor of history at Queen Mary, University of London since 1974, specialising in the history of exploration and the history of Europe overseas. He was appointed a professor emeritus of the Un ...

, year = 1974 , volume = 3 , location =

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, publisher =

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

{{cite journal , url = https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65301 , title = Christopher Middleton (ca. 1690–1770) , author =

William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...

, date = March 1983 , journal =

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

, series = Arctic Profiles , volume = 36 , issue = 1 , pages = 98–99 , doi = 10.14430/arctic2249 , doi-access= free {{cite encyclopedia , url = http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/middleton_christopher_3E.html , title = Middleton, Christopher , work = Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1741–1770 , author =

, year = 1974 , volume = 3 , location =

, publisher =

{{cite encyclopedia , title = Middleton, Christopher , title-link = :s:Middleton, Christopher (d.1770) (DNB00) , work = Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900 , author = John Knox Laughton , year = 1894 , volume = 37 , location =

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, publisher = Smith, Elder & Co. , pages = 342–343 Exploration of the Arctic Maritime history of Canada