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1774

PHIPPS, CONSTANTINE JOHN. A Voyage towards the North Pole undertaken by His Majesty's Command 1773. London: Printed by W. Bowyer and J. Nichols for J. Nourse, Bookseller to His Majesty, 1774.

The Phipps-Lutwidge Expedition was comprised of two ships, the Racehorse and the Carcass. Proposed by the Earl of Sandwich as the first British attempt to reach the North Pole since 1615, it was sponsored by the Royal Society and encouraged by George III. Captain C. Phipps was in command of the expedition fitted "in the most complete manner for the service" including the thermometer designed by Lord Cavendish for measuring water temperature and "Dr. Irving's apparatus for distilling fresh water from the sea with greatest success." Among other previously unsuccessful or impractical efforts by both the British and the French to distill sea water, were those of Mr. Appleby in 1734 and later, separate efforts by Drs. Stephen Hales and James Lind.

Dr. Irving's method (shown below), described in detail in the appendix of this volume and diagrammed in plate XIV opposite page 222, produced analytically and palatably acceptable drinking water.

This expedition reached 80 degrees 48 minutes north latitude, but further progress was blocked by ice. The expedition made numerous scientific observations along the ice barrier at Spitsbergen but could not find a sought-for channel through Greenland.

While many previous attempts to distill fresh water from salt water had failed, Dr. Irving's apparatus, shown here, apparently produced analytically and palatably acceptable drinking water.