After the peace Parry was anxious to be employed in an exploring expedition. He had been much interested in African discovery, and had read the narrative of Clapperton with deep interest. He therefore volunteered for Tuckey’s Congo expedition, but could not get back in time to join it. His letter and his little book on nautical astronomy were shown to Sir John Barrow, who was so pleased with them that he recommended Parry, whose age was then 28, for the command of the Alexander in Ross’s expedition. He then had had 15 years of service, and had necessarily acquired a considerable knowledge of ice navigation during Ross’s re-discovery of Baffin’s Bay.
The Lords of the Admiralty, as we have seen, were not satisfied with Captain Ross’s report. It was thought that there should have been a closer examination of the sounds at the head of Baffin’s Bay, and accordingly it was resolved that another expedition should be despatched to discover whether Lancaster Sound opened on to a channel leading to Bering Strait. Lieut. Parry received the command of the expedition, and nearly all the officers and men who had served in the Buchan and Ross expeditions volunteered to go with him. They were to receive double pay.
The memorable success of this expedition was perhaps due to the youthfulness of the officers. The oldest was Captain Sabine, R.E., the astronomer, who was 30. Beechey, Parry’s first Lieutenant, the accomplished artist and writer of the Trent, was 23. The other Lieutenant, Hoppner from the Alexander, was about the same age. The remaining executive officers were eight young midshipmen aged from 17 to 19, three rather more.
Two vessels were selected. The Hecla was a very strong bomb vessel of 375 tons, built at Hull in 1815. Her consort was a slow-sailing old gun brig, the Griper of 130 tons, with a deck of 6 feet raised upon her, to increase stowage. Lieut. Liddon commanded her. Both were barque rigged, the object being to restrict the number of men working the vessels. Stores and provisions were got on board for three years[115]. The main objects of the expedition were the advancement of the knowledge of geography and navigation, as well as of science generally.
On the 21st of July, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were off Sanderson’s Hope, when Parry counted 88 icebergs from the crow’s-nest. He boldly determined not to creep northwards along the land floe of Melville Bay, but to force a passage through the middle pack direct for Lancaster Sound. An older man would have hesitated. But there is no great success without risks, and young men take them. The ice was only 80 miles wide in that most favourable year, and Parry was at the entrance of Lancaster Sound by the 28th July.
It would be difficult to imagine a more exhilarating moment than that when the Croker mountains were found to have no existence and the wide channel was discovered, leading into an unknown region. The lofty cliffs, with their scored sides like pillars and buttresses, form a grand portal to the unknown, as Dr Fisher described them, “like an immense wall in ruins, rising almost perpendicular from the sea.” There was a fresh breeze, and the Hecla ran quickly up the channel, with mast-heads and rigging crowded with officers and men eagerly looking westward.
Then there was some ice obstructing a westward course, but a wide channel opened to the south. Parry sailed down it for 150 miles, giving it the name of the Prince Regent, while the western land was called North Somerset, after Parry’s own county. A strong ice-blink across the channel induced him to turn north again into the westward channel. Then a wide open channel was discovered to the north and received the name of Wellington, but that was not the way. Westward Ho! was the cry, with new discoveries and new islands in every watch: Cornwallis Island, named after Parry’s first naval patron; Cape Hotham after one of the Lords who signed his instructions; Griffith Island after Admiral Griffith, who was first Lieutenant of the Culloden at the battle of St Vincent. On into the unknown sailed the Hecla and Griper. Upwards of 20 islands were discovered and named, the group collectively being called the North Georgian Islands. Pressing westward no landing was effected until an island was reached which was honoured with the name of the Comptroller, Sir Thomas Byam Martin. A more promising land was found, within sight of Melville Island, the Arctic paradise. Without knowing it Parry had passed the barren limestone isles, and his first landing was on the more promising carboniferous region.
Sailing along the south coast of Melville Island, so named after the First Lord of the Admiralty, the expedition crossed the 110th meridian and thus became entitled to the bounty of £5000. In September the young ice was forming fast, and the Hecla and Griper were brought into snug quarters by sawing a long channel through the ice. The top-gallant and topmasts were sent down, all but the maintopmast which was left as a guide to returning sportsmen, and waggon-cloth housings were rigged over the upper decks.
One of Parry’s greatest merits as an Arctic explorer was his success in bringing officers and men through the long winter in good health. This was due to his forethought, power of organisation, genial disposition, and warm sympathy for all who served with him. He had prepared for a winter before leaving England. The closest attention was given to the prevention of damp between decks by means of hot air from the Sylvester stove. Good bread was baked, beer was brewed, and rules were enforced respecting diet, clothing, and above all sufficient daily exercise. Parry wisely realised the equal importance of exercising the minds of his people. A school was opened to teach reading and writing, accomplishments which were not so general in those days as they are now. A newspaper, edited by Captain Sabine, and entitled the North Georgian Gazette, kept the officers amused, and they, in their turn, devoted themselves to the amusement of the men. Parry was himself a good musician, playing on the violin, and a capital actor. A theatre was erected on the upper deck in spite of the intense cold, and the farces popular in those days were performed by the officers, with songs between the acts. An operetta entitled the “North-West Passage” was also composed by Parry and acted with great applause. By these various means, and by giving the closest attention to every detail, the first modern Arctic winter was a splendid success. The gunner had slight symptoms of scurvy which were soon removed, and one man died of some other disease, but all the rest emerged from the winter in perfect health.
On the approach of summer Parry resolved to equip an expedition to explore the interior of Melville Island. The party was to consist of himself as leader, Captain Sabine, R.E., Dr Fisher, two midshipmen named Nias and Reid, two serjeants of marines, two privates, and two seamen. Tents were taken, consisting of blankets passed over a ridge rope, supported by two boarding pikes. Provisions were loaded on a cart made of boards and the wheels of a field-piece. There were three weeks’ provisions, and the diet per man per day—which was insufficient—was: 1 lb. biscuit, ⅔ lb. of preserved meat, 1 oz. salep powder, 1 oz. sugar, and half a pint of rum. Besides dragging the cart with 800 lb. of provisions and tents, officers and men carried spare clothing and sleeping-bags on their backs as knapsacks, 17 to 20 lb. each. Small faggots of firewood were also taken.