Having with him seventy-one days’ provisions, consisting of pemmican, biscuit, cocoa, and rum, with spirit of wine to be used as fuel, changes of warm clothing, thick fur dresses for sleeping in, and stout Eskimo boots, he got away June 22, and proceeded in open water some eighty miles, when the boats came to a trying condition of mixed surface ice and water, through which it was found necessary alternately to haul and float them. Owing to the better condition of the ice, it was deemed best to reverse the usual course of life.
“Travelling by night and sleeping by day,” writes Captain Parry “so completely inverted the natural order of things that it was difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and myself, who were all furnished with pocket chronometers, could not always bear in mind at which part of the twenty-four hours we had arrived; and there were several of the men who declared, and I believe truly, that they never knew night from day during the whole excursion. When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day by prayers; after which we took off our fur sleeping dresses and put on clothes for travelling, the former being made of camlet lined with raccoon skin, and the latter of strong blue cloth. We made a point always of putting on the same stockings and boots for travelling in, whether they had been dried during the day or not, and I believe it was only in five or six instances at the most that they were not either still wet or hard frozen. This indeed was of no consequence, beyond the discomfort of first putting them on in this state, as they were sure to be thoroughly wet in a quarter of an hour after commencing our journey; while, on the other hand, it was of vital importance to keep dry things for sleeping in. Being ‘rigged’ for travelling, we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and after stowing the things in boats, and on the sledges, so as to secure them as much as possible from the wet, we set off on our day’s journey and usually travelled four, five, or seven hours, according to circumstances.”
They made very slow progress in spite of their strenuous exertions, owing to the floes being small, exceedingly rough, and intersected by lanes of water which could not be crossed without unloading the boats. Rain added to their discomfort, causing the ice to form into numberless irregular needle-like crystals, which proved very trying to the feet. Elevated hummocks presented themselves, over which it was almost impossible to draw the boats.
Even by the utmost efforts they could not make an advance of more than a mile and a half or two miles in five or six hours. Realizing the unfavourable conditions for reaching the pole, owing to the advanced season of the year, Parry soon relinquished that hope and bent his energies to reaching at best the 83° parallel, if possible. But now to his utter discouragement it was found that the drifting of the snow fields was gradually carrying them backward, and that, in spite of every attempt to advance, they were daily losing ground.
On July 23, they reached their farthest north, 82° 45´. “At the extreme point of our journey,” says Parry, “our distance from the Hecla was only one hundred and seventy-two miles in a S. W. direction. To accomplish this distance, we had traversed, by our reckoning, two hundred and ninety-two miles, of which about one hundred were performed by water previously to our entering the ice. As we travelled by far the greater part of our distance on the ice three, and not unfrequently five, times over, we may safely multiply the length of the road by two and a half; so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, amounted to five hundred and eighty geographical, or six hundred and sixty-eight statute miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the pole in a direct line. Up to this period, we had been particularly fortunate in the preservation of our health.”
Owing to the increased softness of the ice, the return trip was even more difficult than the advance, the men sinking to their thighs in the ice slush. By the 11th of August the joyful sound of the surf breaking against the margin of the ice was heard, and later the boats were launched into open water, and in another ten days they rejoined the Hecla, and soon afterward sailed for England.
Parry’s remarkable voyages, besides reaping a rich harvest of scientific data, had proved the navigability of Lancaster Sound, the non-existence of the Crocker Mountains, and that Prince Regent Inlet opened into Barrow Strait, which in turn widened into Melville Sound, and thence opened into the polar ocean. He had added to the map the important archipelago or Parry Islands, many of which he named and explored; had outlined the sounds, bays, and inlets through which he had sailed; discovered Hecla and Fury Strait; and demonstrated the impracticability of making the northwest passage by way of Frozen Strait.
CHAPTER V
Nineteenth century, continued: Scoresby and Clavering.—Former visited Jan Mayen Island in 1817, later visited east coast of Greenland, discovered Scoresby Sound.—In 1824, Captain Lyon surveyed Melville Peninsula.—Adjoining straits and shores of Arctic America.—In 1825, Captain Beechey in the Blossom sailed through Behring Strait and passed beyond Icy Cape.—Surveyed the coast as far as Point Barrow, adding 126 miles of new shore.—Second voyage of Captain John Ross.—Undertaken in 1829.—Discovers Boothia.—Wintered in Felix Harbor.—Discovery of North Magnetic Pole by nephew of Captain John Ross.—Commander James Clark Ross.—Valuable observations.—Sledge journeys to mainland.—Four years spent in the Arctic.—Perilous retreat.—Safe return.—Land journey by Captain Back.—The Great Fish-Back River.—Point Ogle.—Point Richardson.—Back’s farthest point was 68° 13´ 57´´ north latitude, 94° 58´ 1´´ west longitude. Land journeys of Simpson and Dease, 1836.—Descend the Mackenzie River to the sea.—Surveyed west shore between Return Reef and Cape Barrow.—In 1839, they explored shores of Victoria Land as far as Cape Parry.—Crossed Coronation Gulf.—Descended the Coppermine.—Reached the Polar Sea.—Overland journey in 1846 by Dr. John Rae confirmed Captain John Ross’s statement that Boothia was a peninsula.