The Enlightenment years of the eighteenth century represented
a determined attempt to dispel myth, superstition and ignorance
- yet they also witnessed increasingly irrational efforts
to find a navigable passage through the icy seas of the Arctic
from Hudson Bay to the wealth of the Pacific Ocean. Based
on extensive research, Voyages of Delusion explores the adventures
and mishaps of the successive voyages, the role of the Hudson
Bay Company whose monopoly gave it control over trading opportunities
in the far north, and the increasing interest of national
governments in the possibility of a navigable passage.
Author: Glyn Williams
Publisher: Harper
Collins
