In 1741 Captain Middleton made a northern voyage of little importance, and on his return was publicly accused by one Mr. Arthur Dobbs, of having acted in bad faith to the Government, and of having taken a bribe of £5,000 from the Hudson’s Bay Company, his old employers, not to make discoveries. The captain denied having accepted any bribe, but almost admitted that he had said no one should be much the wiser if he did make the north-west passage. The agitation, however, stirred by Dobbs, led to the passing of an Act of Parliament offering the large sum of £20,000 for the discovery of a north-western route to the Indies. Two vessels—the _Dobb’s Galley_ and _California_—were equipped by subscription, and left in the spring of 1746. The expedition wintered near Fort York, but although absent seventeen months, virtually accomplished nothing. The result was that the ardour of the public as well as of explorers received a decided check, and for nearly thirty years we hear of no Arctic voyage being despatched for purposes of discovery. CHAPTER XVI. Paucity of Arctic Expeditions in the Eighteenth Century—Phipps’ Voyage—Walls of Ice—Ferocious Sea-horses—A Beautiful Glacier—Cook’s Voyage—A Fresh Attempt—Extension of the Government Rewards—Cape Prince of Wales—Among the Tchuktchis—Icy Cape—Baffled by the Ice—Russian Voyages—The Two Unconquerable Capes—Peter the Great—Behring’s Voyages—Discovery of the Straits—The Third Voyage—Scurvy and Shipwreck—Death of the Commander—New Siberia—The Ivory Islands. The eighteenth century was not remarkable for the number of northern voyages instigated in England for geographical research. This was partly due to the many previous failures, but still more to important discoveries which were being made in other parts of the world, and which for the time threw Arctic adventure in the shade. The land and river expeditions of Samuel Hearne and Alexander Mackenzie to the shores or neighbourhood of the Arctic Ocean do not come within the scope of this work, and strong doubts have been expressed as to whether either of these explorers really reached salt water, although both were undoubtedly near it.