The following fact is striking: In 1662-3, Mr. Oldenburg, Secretary to
the Royal Society, was ordered to register a paper entitled “Several
Inquiries concerning Greenland, answered by Mr. Gray, who had visited
those parts.” The nineteenth query was, “How near any one hath been
known to approach the Pole. _Answer._ I once met upon the coast of
Greenland a Hollander, that swore he had been but half a degree from
the Pole, showing me his journal, which was also attested by his mate;
where _they had seen no ice or land, but all water_.” Boyle mentions
a similar account, which he received from an old Greenland master, on
April 5, 1765.