Captain Lyon left England on the 19th June, 1824, and after passing through Hudson Strait, endeavoured to reach Repulse Bay by way of Sir Thomas Roe’s Welcome. He was most unfortunate. There was thick weather on the 1st September and the water rapidly shoaled, so Captain Lyon came to with two bowers and a stream anchor. There was a tremendous sea running and the ship was pitching bows under. It was high tide, the fall 12 to 15 feet, so that at low water the total destruction of the ship seemed inevitable. The long boat was got ready, and at dawn a low beach was seen on which a terrific surf was running. At six the ship was lifted by a tremendous sea, and struck the ground with great violence along the whole length of the keel. Lyon thought this was the forerunner of her total wreck. All hope of saving her was gone. It is impossible to read Lyon’s narrative, describing the magnificent behaviour of all his men, without feelings of admiration and pride. At 6 p.m. the rudder rose, and broke up the after lockers. Then the pressure ceased, and in the morning the anchors were weighed and the ship was saved.
In a few days thick weather, with heavy seas, came on again. Lyon let go both bowers and the sheet anchor; the seas swept them fore and aft, while streams of heavy ice kept driving down upon the ship. The wind increased to a hurricane and all the cables parted. The trysails were set, but the fore trysail gaff went and could not be lowered, every rope being encrusted with a thick coating of ice. They were still 80 miles from Repulse Bay, with no hope of ever reaching it, and accordingly Captain Lyon reluctantly decided on returning to England. He bore up with a sad heart on the 15th September. Yet such a grand story of the pluck and endurance of British seamen so admirably told is worth much more than the journey from Repulse Bay to Cape Turnagain, if it could have been accomplished. Captain Lyon, so enthusiastic, so dauntless, so able and so beloved, is one of the greatest ornaments of polar history[122].
Parry thought that Fury and Hecla Strait opened upon a sea which communicated with Prince Regent’s Inlet, and here again he was right. His idea was in a third voyage to take that route, and there was a prospect of co-operation. Franklin was again exploring the northern coast, while Captain Beechey, Parry’s old first Lieutenant, was conducting a scientific voyage in H.M.S. Blossom in the direction of Bering Strait, and extending discovery from the Icy Cape of Captain Cook to Cape Barrow.
At that period there was no lack of enthusiasm, and expedition followed on expedition in rapid succession. The Hecla was commissioned by Captain Parry, and the Fury by his old and faithful comrade in all his northern voyages, Captain Hoppner, on January 17th, 1824. Of Parry’s old shipmates in former voyages, besides Hoppner, there were Sherer and James Ross, now Lieutenants; Crozier and Bird, still midshipmen; and Mr Hooper, the purser. The most distinguished of the new officers were Lieut. Foster, the Assistant Surveyor[123], and Horatio T. Austin, first Lieutenant of the Fury.
The Arctic ships were accompanied by a transport which filled them up at the Whale Fish Islands in Disco Bay. Here, on one of the smallest islets, the observatory was set up, and Lieut. Foster set to work with his magnetic instruments. Captain Parry and Hoppner went in a boat to the Danish settlement of Lievely on Disco Island, where they made the acquaintance of Lieut. Graah, the explorer of East Greenland.
On reaching the ice, Parry again resolved to attempt the middle pack, but this time he was doomed to disappointment. The ice was closely packed, and for upwards of 40 days they were battling with it. At length they reached Lancaster Sound, but it was late in September before they entered Prince Regent’s Inlet. Parry resolved to take up winter quarters on the east side, in Port Bowen, which he had discovered in 1819.
As at Melville Island there was a very well attended school under the superintendence of Mr Hooper, the Purser, and Captain Parry was convinced that to the moral effect it produced on the minds of the men were owing their cheerfulness, good order, and in some measure the excellent state of health which prevailed through the winter. At Captain Hoppner’s suggestion there was a change in the amusements. Masquerades were substituted for theatricals and with great success. In the spring there were some travelling parties. Captain Hoppner got over some very difficult country inland, Ross and Sherer went north and south. But the great event was the capture of a “payable” whale by these two redoubtable young Arctics, who had also achieved a similar success during Parry’s second voyage.
On the 20th of July the ships were released from their winter quarters and, standing over to the west side, began to shape a course to the south. Then the ice in the centre of the channel approached the land, and drove both ships on shore. They were got off, but the Fury was seriously damaged, officers and men being nearly exhausted by their efforts to keep her afloat. On the 21st August she was once more driven on to a stony beach under a very lofty perpendicular cliff, and hopelessly stranded. The hold was full of water. The greater part of her stores were landed and she was abandoned, officers and men being taken on board the Hecla. The Hecla reached Peterhead on the 12th of October, 1825, all hands in excellent health.
For a time Parry’s Arctic work was laid aside, and on the 23rd of October, 1826, he was married to Isabella, daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley. Meanwhile his proposal to attempt an approach to the Pole by way of Spitsbergen was under the consideration of the Admiralty. The idea was to make the attempt in boats, which might be hauled over intervening ice. The Admiralty approved, and the Hecla was ordered to be commissioned again, Mrs Parry hoisting the pennant, to the delight of all the old Arctics at Deptford. At this time Parry was also filling the office of Hydrographer at the Admiralty. His hands were pretty full.
The officers of the Hecla were Lieutenants James C. Ross, Crozier, and Foster, Assistant Surgeon Beverley, and Mr Halse the purser, who had served in all Parry’s expeditions.