By the 6th of August, about four hundred yards of ice were sawn through, leaving a broad canal, eleven hundred yards in length. By this and the disruption of the floe on the 8th of August, the Fury floated once more in open water, and was followed on the 12th by the Hecla.
Captain Parry had come to the resolution of sending the Hecla home, and by taking such stores and provisions as could be spared from her on board the Fury, with her alone to brave a third winter in the polar regions; but on desiring the medical officers to furnish him with their opinions as to the probable effect that a third winter passed in these regions would produce on the health of the ship’s company, they expressed it very strongly to the effect that it would be dangerous in the extreme. Captain Lyon fully agreed with this, and the ships, therefore, stood out eastward. The current rapidly hurried them along to the southward, their drift being twenty-one miles in twenty-four hours, though closely beset, without a single pool of water in sight the whole time. As they approached a headland, they were whirled round it at the rate of two or three knots an hour, and on passing Barrow River were drifted nine or ten miles off land by the current setting out of it.
On the 17th of September, a strong westerly breeze clearing them from the ice, enabled them to shape their course for Trinity Islands in a perfectly open sea, from whence they ran down Hudson’s Straits, without meeting with any obstruction. The favourable wind still continued, and on the 10th of October they anchored in Brassa Sound, off Lerwick, where they enjoyed their first sight of civilised man, after an absence of seven and twenty months.
They were received by the people of Lerwick in the warmest manner. The bells were set ringing, the town was illuminated, and people flocked in from all parts of the country, to express their joy at their unexpected return.
On the 18th Captain Parry arrived at the Admiralty, and the ships were paid off on the 16th of November.
The idea being entertained that the passage westward into the Pacific might be made through Prince Regent’s Inlet, Captain Parry was appointed to the command of another expedition for the purpose of ascertaining if this could be done. The Hecla was re-commissioned, he taking command of her, while Commander Hoppner was appointed to the Fury, with Horatio Thomas Austin and James Clark Ross as his lieutenants. The Hecla carried sixty-two and the Fury sixty persons.
The ships sailed from the Nore on the 19th of May, 1824, accompanied by the William Harris transport. Captain Parry received his instructions to make the best of his way to Davis Straits, to cross over to Lancaster Sound, and, proceeding through Barrow Straits, endeavour to make through Prince Regent’s Inlet a passage into the sea which bounds the American continent on its northern coast, and thence westward to the Pacific. At the Danish settlement of Lievely the ships received their stores from the William Harris, which returned home. On leaving the harbour, the Hecla struck on a sunken rock, but without receiving much damage. On the 17th of July the ice began to close round the ships, and from that time forward the crews were constantly employed in warping or sawing through the frozen mass. On several occasions the Hecla received awkward nips, and it was not until the 9th of September that they got into open water. On the 10th of September they entered Lancaster Sound, and found it free from ice; but on the 13th they had the mortification of perceiving the sea ahead covered with young ice, through which they made their way until they came to the entrance of Port Bowen, into which the ships were warped by the ist of October, and here took up their winter station. The usual preparations for passing that dreary season were made. Numerous whales were seen off the coast, which would have afforded a rich harvest to a whaler.
Parry’s first care was to find occupation and diversion for the seamen. As many of their former amusements were worn threadbare, he proposed a masquerade, in which officers and men alike took part. Admirably dressed characters of various descriptions made their appearance, and were supported with a degree of spirit and humour which would not have discredited a more refined assembly. It does especial credit to the disposition and good sense of the men that, although the officers entered fully into the spirit of these amusements, which took place once a month alternately on board each ship, no instance occurred of anything that could interfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their officers. Mr Hooper, purser of the Hecla, superintended the school, aided by other officers. The progress of the men was surprisingly great. He also attended to the cultivation of that religious feeling which so essentially improves the character of seamen, by furnishing the highest motives for increased attention to their other duties. The officers also found full employment in the various observations to which their attention was directed. An expedition was also made to the eastward, under Commander Hoppner. On his return, two other parties, under the respective commands of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, travelled, the former to the southward, and the latter to the northward, along the coast of Prince Regent’s Inlet, for the purpose of surveying it accurately. The travelling along the shore was so good that they were enabled to extend their journeys far beyond the points intended. On returning, Lieutenant Ross brought the welcome intelligence that the sea was perfectly open at a distance of twenty-two miles northward of Port Bowen. On the 12th of July the ice began to break up, and by the 20th, owing to the sudden separation of the floe, the ships got free. They first crossed over to the western shore of Prince Regent’s Inlet, then proceeded southward, close in with the land, having alternately open water and floating ice, to which they had occasionally to make fast. Before long, however, the ice was observed to be in rapid motion towards the shore. The Hecla was immediately beset, in spite of every exertion, and, after breaking two of the largest ice-anchors, in endeavouring to heave in to the shore, she was compelled to drift with the ice. Both ships were in extreme danger. The cliffs next the sea, four or five hundred feet in perpendicular height, were constantly breaking down, and the ships lay so close in shore as to be almost within range of some of these falling masses. The following day the Hecla managed to get to a greater distance; but the Fury remained where she was, and on the 31st a hard gale brought the ice closer and closer, until it pressed with very considerable violence on both ships, though mostly on the Fury, which lay in a very exposed position. Shortly afterwards the Fury was forced on the ground, where she lay, but was got off again at high water. A broad channel appearing and a fresh breeze springing up, an attempt was made to reach the water; but the ice came bodily in upon the ships, which were instantly beset in such a manner as to be literally helpless and unmanageable.
Thus they were carried southward, when the Hecla, driving close in shore, struck the ground several times, and remained immovable. The Fury was seen driving past, narrowly escaping being forced on board her. She was driven about three hundred yards, powerfully pressed by the ice, until she became so severely nipped and strained as to leak a good deal, when she was again forced ashore. Both ships, however, got off at high water, but on the 2nd of August the Fury was again driven on the beach, and the Hecla narrowly escaped. Captain Parry went on board the former vessel, and found four pumps going, and Commander Hoppner and his men almost exhausted with the incessant labours of the last eight and forty hours. They were now looking out for a spot where the Fury might be hove down, when again the ice drove down upon them. Once more freed, however, the ships proceeded to a place where there were three bergs, at which it was determined to heave down the Fury. The formation of a basin was at once commenced, and completed by the 16th of August, and on the 18th all the Fury’s stores, provisions, and other articles, were landed, and she was hove down. Scarcely, however, had this been done when a gale of wind came on, which destroyed the bergs, and made it necessary to tow both the ships away from the land. The Fury was again reloaded, but on the 21st was once more driven on shore. It was now seen that any attempt to carry her to a place of safety, even should she be got off, would be hopeless and productive of extreme risk to the remaining ship, and that an absolute necessity existed for abandoning her. Her crew, with such stores as were required, were transferred to the Hecla, and every effort was made to carry the surviving ship into clear water.
Five and twenty days of the time when navigation was practicable had been lost. As soon, therefore, as the boats had been hoisted up and stowed, they sailed away to the north-eastward, with a light air off the land, in order to gain an offing before the ice should again set in shore. The Hecla was at length worked out of Prince Regent’s Inlet, and arrived safely at Melville Harbour, where the necessary repairs were effected for enabling her to cross the Atlantic.