Volume I of Voyages to Hudson Bay in Search of a Northwest Passagedescribed the naval discovery expedition of Christopher Middleton in 1741-2, and the controversy which followed his failure to find a Northwest Passage. Thissecond volume deals with the privately-financed expedition sent four years later on the same quest, commanded by William Moor and Francis Smith. Once more, Arthur Dobbs was the prime mover, this time with the help of an association of merchants, the North West Committee, and once more he was to be disappointed by the outcome, thwarted by quarrelsome captains, tensions during the wintering at York Factory, confused explorations, and rival accounts.
Once again, there is a wealth of material concerning thevoyage: printed accounts by Henry Ellis and the mysterious `Clerk of the California; a manuscript journal by Francis Smith; and the journal, letters and `Observations'of James Isham, the Hudson's Bay Company factor at York. The volume also includes extracts from private and official correspondence, parliamentary papers, and contemporary pamphlets. Appendix I investigates the apocryphal voyageof Admiral De Fonte; and Appendix II contains a critical analysis of the different accounts of the expedition.