Chapter Twenty Eight.
Parry’s three voyages in search of a North-West Passage—A.D. 1819.
Ancient voyagers in arctic seas—Parry’s voyage in command of the Alexander—Under Captain John Ross—Parry’s first expedition with the Hecla and Griper—The ice reached—Danger among icebergs—The vessels freed—Steer westward—A way cut through the ice—Enter Lancaster Sound—Sail up it till stopped by the ice—Reach longitude 110 degrees west—A passage cut through the ice into a harbour in Melville Island—Preparations for passing the winter—A paper established—Plays acted—An observatory and house built on shore—The former catches fire—Many of the men frost-bitten while extinguishing the flames—All animals quit the country—Scurvy appears—Mustard and cress grown—Employments of officers and men—Excursions on shore—Ice begins to break up—Get out of harbour—Attempt to sail westward defeated—Return—Parry’s second expedition with Fury and Hecla in 1821 to Hudson’s Bay—Dangers among icebergs and floes—Visited by Esquimaux—Fox’s Channel and Repulse Bay reached—Further explorations made—No opening found—More natives appear—Ships frozen in near Lyon Inlet—Plays acted—A school established—Natives come on board—Native village—Honesty and intelligence of natives—A clever woman—Iliglink and her son—The Esquimaux leave them—Ships again put to sea—In fearful danger—Fury and Hecla Strait reached—Attempt to pass through it—Go into winter quarters—Natives appear—Winter less pleasantly spent than the former—Great difficulty in escaping—Parry’s wish to remain overruled—Ships swept along by the current—Sail homewards—Reception at Lerwick—Parry’s third voyage in the Hecla and Fury, 1824—Accompanied by the William Harris transport—Call off Lievely—Reach Lancaster Sound—Are frozen up in Port Eowen—Masquerades—Good conduct of the men—Progress in the school—Expedition on shore—Ships get out of harbour—In fearful danger—The Fury wrecked and abandoned—The Hecla refitted, sails homeward, and safely reaches England—Remarks on Admiral Sir Edward Parry.
From the days of Edward the Sixth, and even before that period, attempts have been made to discover a passage eastward along the northern shores of Europe and Asia to India from the westward, and from the Atlantic into the Pacific, as well as to reach the north pole.
Among the gallant men who commanded these expeditions the names of Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor, Sir Martin Frobisher, Barentz, Henry Hudson, and Baffin stand out pre-eminently. Captain Cook, as we have seen, made attempts to penetrate from the Pacific into the Atlantic, and at the same time Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, accompanied by Nelson, then a midshipman, was engaged in an attempt to reach the north pole along the coast of Spitzbergen. For some time after this the interest in arctic discovery died away, but was at length revived in the year 1818 by the reports of the state of the ice, which was said to have broken away from the coast of Greenland in places where it had been attached to the shore for centuries. In that year four ships were fitted out—two, the Isabella, commanded by Captain John Ross, and the Alexander by Lieutenant Parry, to explore the north-west passage, and the Dorothea, commanded by Captain Buchan, and the Trent, by Lieutenant John Franklin,—for the purpose of attempting to reach the north pole. Many of the officers who subsequently became well known as arctic explorers were employed in these expeditions; among others were Mr Beechy and Mr Hoppner, both sons of eminent artists, and themselves excellent draughtsmen.
Neither of the expeditions was successful. Captain Ross sailed up Davis’s Straits into Baffin’s Bay, passing the entrances to Smith’s and Lancaster Sounds, across both of which he was persuaded that a lofty range of mountains extended. These he called Crocker Mountains. The openings, he was convinced, were merely the mouths of deep inlets. Lieutenant Parry differed entirely from his commanding officer, and deep regret was expressed by many on board that an opening, by examining which important discoveries might have resulted, should have been abruptly quitted.
The reports brought home satisfied most scientific men that an opening existed through Lancaster Sound. On the following year, therefore, the Admiralty fitted out an expedition, which was placed under the command of Lieutenant Parry, who had Mr Beechy as his lieutenant.
As Parry takes the highest rank amongst arctic explorers, it is proposed to give a sketch of his three voyages to the polar regions in search of a north-west passage.