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Why did Horatio Nelson take part in an Arctic expedition in 1773?
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Horatio Nelson
Lord Nelson, detail of an oil painting by J.F. Rigaud; in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Eng.
Horatio Nelson participated in the 1773 Arctic expedition as part of a scientific voyage commissioned by the Royal Navy.12
At the time, there was a prevailing belief among explorers and scientists in the existence of an open polar sea, which led to various attempts to find a navigable polar route to the East. The 1773 expedition, led by Captain John Constantine Phipps, sought to reach the North Pole from the area between Greenland and Svalbard. Nelsonās involvement in this voyage is characterized in historical accounts as a dangerous and ultimately unsuccessful scientific endeavor.21