ABSTRACT for the NORTH WEST PASSAGE ACT (1745). An Abstract of an Act for giving a Publick Reward to such Person or Persons, His Majestys Subject or Subjects, as shall discover a North West Passage through Hudsons Streights, to the Western and Southern Ocean of America.

DISCOVERY OF A NORTH WEST PASSAGE. Great Britain. Parliament.

Published by London: Thomas Baskett and the Assigns of Robert Baskett, 1745

About this Item

Folio (12.5 inches). 18 George II, Chapter 17. Caption title, page 68. In the whole volume of: An Abstract of all the Acts Passed in the Fourth Session of the Ninth Parliament of Great Britain, and in the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord King George the Second. 109 pages + 1 page (Table of Contents). Recent blue paper wrappers, with title block mounted on cover. Spine slightly askew. This volume of Abstracts was published as an accompaniment to the Parliamentary Acts for 1745 (18 George II), and conveyed the essence of each law passed that year, complete with marginal references to the page numbers of the first edition Acts. Of particular interest is the Abstract for the Act in which Parliament offered a prize of GBP 20,000 for the discovery of a North West Passage through the Arctic regions. A shipping route to the Orient through a northern passage would have saved considerable travel time and expense, and had long been desired by British merchants. Arthur Dobbs, an Anglo-Irish politician, believed that a North West Passage existed, and invested heavily in private expeditions to the Hudsons Bay region to search for the elusive shipping route. Dobbs also insisted that the Hudsons Bay Companys charter should have been revoked on the grounds that they had not lived up to obligations to promote and support exploration and discovery in the Arctic and had not actively looked for a North West Passage. When Captain Christopher Middleton returned from an expedition in 1741 stating that no such passage existed, Dobbs accused him of misleading the public and concealing positive results. Heated arguments between Dobbs and Middleton led to a series of published exchanges (known as the Dobbs-Middleton controversy) and resulted in a formal investigation by the British Admiralty. In the end, Dobbs was successful in persuading Parliament to pass the 1745 Act offering a GBP 20,000 reward for the discovery of a North West Passage specifically through Hudsons Streights. The volume also contains other Abstracts of interest on a variety of financial, legal, military, gaming, and commercial topics, together with the curiously interesting Abstract of an Act for making the Surgeons of London and the Barbers of London Two Separate and Distinct Corporations (pages 60-62).

Seller Inventory # 151

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ABSTRACT for the NORTH WEST PASSAGE ACT (1745). An Abstract of an Act for giving a Publick Reward to such Person or Persons, His Majestys Subject or Subjects, as shall discover a North West Passage through Hudsons Streights, to the Western and Southern Ocean of America.
• Publisher: London: Thomas Baskett and the Assigns of Robert Baskett
• Publication Date: 1745
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • GREAT BRITAIN Longitude at Sea
  • GREAT BRITAIN North West Passage