the service. The command of the former was given to Captain Constantine
John Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave; and that of the latter, to
Captain Skeffington Lutwidge, now Admiral of the White. The complement
for each was fixed at ninety men; and the ordinary establishment
departed from, by appointing an additional number of officers, the whole
recommended by their respective captains, and entering effective men
instead of the usual number of boys Two masters of Greenlandmen were
employed as pilots for each ship; the Racehorse was furnished with new
chain-pumps on Captain Bentinck's improved plan; Dr. Irving's apparatus
for distilling fresh water from the sea was adopted; Mr. Israel Lyons
was engaged, by the Board of Longitude, to embark in this voyage, for
the purpose of making astronomical observations; the board also sent two
watch machines for keeping the longitude by difference of time, one on
Mr. Harrison's principles, the other by Mr. Arnold; and, in short, every
possible arrangement was made effectually to decide the long-agitated
question concerning the practicability of a north-east passage into the
Pacific ocean.

The report of this scientific voyage, from which so much nautical
knowledge could not fail to be derived by a youth thirsting for
professional information, most powerfully attracted the enterprising
spirit of young Nelson; who resolved, if possible, to participate in
it's advantages, without any apprehensions from the perils to which he
must necessarily be exposed in it's pursuit. It may, indeed, be justly
doubted, whether the hope of successfully encountering these very perils
might not constitute one of its chief charms for his intrepid mind.

Notwithstanding, therefore, the implied interdiction of the Admiralty,
respecting the employment of boys on this hazardous voyage, he so
powerfully pleaded with Captain Lutwidge to be appointed coxswain, and