Editing Northwest Passage (section)

===Cook and Vancouver{{anchor|Discovery of Northern Passage Act 1776}}===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Discovery of Northern Passage Act 1776
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for giving a publick Reward unto such Person or Persons, being His Majesty's Subject or Subjects, as shall discover a Northern Passage for Vessels by Sea, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and also unto such as shall first approach, by Sea, within One Degree of the Northern Pole.
| year                  = 1776
| citation              = [[16 Geo. 3]]. c. 6
| introduced_commons    =
| introduced_lords      =
| territorial_extent    =
| royal_assent          = 22 December 1775
| commencement          =
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           =
| amends                =
| replaces              =
| amendments            =
| repealing_legislation = [[Discovery of Longitude at Sea, etc. Act 1818]]
| related_legislation   =
| status                = repealed
| legislation_history   =
| theyworkforyou        =
| millbankhansard       =
| original_text         =
| revised_text          =
| use_new_UK-LEG        =
| UK-LEG_title          =
| collapsed             = yes
}}
In 1776, Captain James Cook was dispatched by the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] on an expedition to explore the Passage. A 1745 act, when extended in 1775, promised a £20,000 prize for whoever discovered the passage. Initially the Admiralty had wanted [[Charles Clerke]] to lead the expedition, with Cook (in retirement following his exploits in the Pacific) acting as a consultant. However, Cook had researched Bering's expeditions, and the Admiralty ultimately placed their faith in the veteran explorer to lead, with Clerke accompanying him.

After journeying through the Pacific, to make an attempt from the west, Cook began at [[Nootka Sound]] in April 1778. He headed north along the coastline, charting the lands and searching for the regions sailed by the Russians 40 years previously. The Admiralty's orders had commanded the expedition to ignore all inlets and rivers until they reached a [[latitude]] of [[65th parallel north|65°N]]. Cook, however, failed to make any progress in sighting a Northwestern Passage.

Various officers on the expedition, including [[William Bligh]], [[George Vancouver]], and [[John Gore (seaman)|John Gore]], thought the existence of a route was 'improbable'. Before reaching 65°N they found the coastline pushing them further south, but Gore convinced Cook to sail on into the [[Cook Inlet]] in the hope of finding the route. They continued to the limits of the Alaskan peninsula and the start of the {{convert|1200|mi|abbr=on}} chain of Aleutian Islands. Despite reaching [[70th parallel north|70°N]], they encountered nothing but icebergs.<ref name="cook" />

From 1792 to 1794, the [[Vancouver Expedition]] (led by George Vancouver who had previously accompanied Cook) surveyed in detail all the passages from the [[British Columbia Coast|Northwest Coast]]. He confirmed that there was no such passage south of the Bering Strait.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meany|first=Edmond S.|author-link=Edmond S. Meany|title=Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound: Portraits and Biographies of the Men Honored in the Naming of Geographic Features of Northwestern America|url=https://archive.org/details/vancouversdiscov0000mean|year=1907|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York}}</ref> This conclusion was supported by the evidence of [[Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)|Alexander MacKenzie]], who explored the Arctic and Pacific Oceans in 1793.