I am about to print some information, hitherto I believe totally unknown,
relative to the voyage of Sir Thomas Button in 1612, for the discovery of
the north-west passage.
Of this voyage a journal was kept, which was in existence many years
afterwards, being offered by {386} its author to Secretary Dorchester in
1629, then engaged in forwarding the projected voyage of "North-West" Foxe;
it is remarkable, however, that no extended account of this voyage, so
important in its objects, has ever been published. I am desirous of knowing
if this journal is in existence, and where? Also, Lord Dorchester's letter
to Button in February, 1629; of any farther information on the subject of
the voyage, or of Sir Thomas Button.
What I possess already are, 1. "Motiues inducing a Proiect for the
Discouerie of the North Pole terrestriall; the streights of Anian, into the
South Sea, and Coasts thereof," anno 1610. 2. Prince Henry's Instructions
for the Voyage, together with King James's Letters of Credence, 1612. 3. A
Letter from Sir Thomas Button to Secretary Dorchester, dated Cardiff, 16th
Feb., 1629 (from the State Paper Office). 4. Sir Dudley Digges' little
tract on the N.-W. Passage, written to promote the voyage, and of which
there were two distinct impressions in 1611 and 1612. 5. Extracts from the
Carleton Correspondence, and from the Hakluyt Society's volume on Voyages
to the North-West.
I shall be glad also to learn the date, and any other facts connected with
the death of John Davis, the discoverer of the Straits bearing his name.