Northwest Passage expedition of 1741
The Royal Society and the Royal Navy worked together to commission the Northwest Passage expedition of 1741. The commander of the expedition, Christopher Middleton, had been a captain of ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, sailing on these ships that made annual voyages to supply the company's outposts, since 1721.
Source: Wikipedia — Northwest Passage expedition of 1741 (CC BY-SA 4.0)