The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

The party reached the northern coast of Melville Island, and some land seen to the north-east and supposed to be an island was named after Captain Sabine. In returning, Parry kept more to the westward, towards a range always in sight which the party called the Blue Mountains. In an Arctic June the climate is not severe, and they travelled at night, sleeping in the comparative warmth of the day. As the party approached the southern coast, or rather the deep gulf on the south side of Melville Island afterwards called Liddon’s Gulf, they entered a deep ravine. The scenery was grand and imposing. In the steepest part the axle-tree of the cart split in two. It was impossible to repair it, so it was left, the wood of the cart being used to make a good fire to cook their ptarmigan.

The Parry Islands.

Two reindeer were also shot, and musk oxen, hares, ducks, and brent geese were seen. The ravine of the broken cart was called “Bushnan’s Cove.” Parry described it as “one of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we have seen in the Arctic regions.” Mosses, dwarf willows, saxifrages, and ranunculi were found growing. Owing to the breakdown of the cart, the loads that each man had to carry on the return march to the ships were from 60 to 70 lb. On the 15th of June the ships were reached after an absence of a fortnight. The details of this journey are specially interesting because it was the first naval Arctic travelling of modern times.

Until the ships could be got out of their winter prison, shooting parties were sent in various directions for fresh food, and 3766 lb. were obtained, consisting of 3 musk oxen, 24 deer, 68 hares, 53 brent geese, 59 ducks, and 144 ptarmigan. An inscription was carved on a huge block of sandstone 12 feet high and 22 feet long by Dr Fisher. It will for centuries commemorate the wintering of Parry’s Arctic expedition in Melville Island.

When the ships got free of the ice, Parry again shaped a course to the west as far as Cape Dundas, meeting with large, heavy, and extensive fields of ice, which were quite impenetrable. This was the heavy ice-flow from the polar ocean which finally impinges on the north-west coast of King William Island. Nothing more could be done, and Parry resolved to return home, surveying the west coast of Baffin’s Bay to 68° 15′. The exploring ships arrived at Peterhead on the 29th of October, and were paid off at Deptford on December 21st, 1820, all in excellent health.

This is one of the most memorable of all the Arctic voyages. It practically settled the question of a connection between the two oceans. Great discoveries were made, and important scientific observations were recorded. An Arctic winter was faced with preservation of health and Arctic travelling was commenced. Men of science as well as sailors received excellent training. This was the only expedition which has produced a President of the Royal Society and a President of the Royal Geographical Society. Besides the training of Arctic officers who continued in that branch of the service, Parry’s first voyage brought out qualities which shone forth in after years at the battle of Navarino and in the first China war[116].

The Arctic discoverers were received with enthusiasm by their countrymen, and the authorities justly placed the greatest reliance on the skill and judgment of Parry, who was promoted to the rank of Commander.

Captain Parry thought quite correctly that a passage could not be forced by a sailing vessel on the parallel of the south coast of Melville Island. His conclusion was that it could only be effected along the north coast of North America, in which again he was quite right. But at that time only the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine were discovered, and the distribution of land and water to the north of America was known to be excessively complicated. Parry advised that the next attempt should be by way of Hudson’s Bay.

The Admiralty accordingly resolved to despatch Parry on a second Arctic voyage. He was to investigate and settle doubtful questions about Middleton’s Frozen Strait and Repulse Bay, and then to get hold of the north-west corner of North America, and if possible to follow that coast to Bering Strait. The Griper was too small, a bad sailer, and ill adapted for the work. The great point was to select two vessels with equal sailing qualities and of equal size. Two bomb vessels were therefore commissioned, the Fury of 377 tons by Captain Parry and the Hecla by Captain G. F. Lyon, with Hoppner as his first Lieutenant. The other Lieutenants were three of Parry’s midshipmen in the Hecla, Nias, Reid, and Palmer. Bushnan[117] was Assistant Surveyor; James Ross, still a midshipman, was in every voyage. Three new midshipmen who were afterwards distinguished as Arctic men appear for the first time in the second voyage, Sherer, Crozier, and Bird[118].