THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 



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was now visible in every countenance, while, as the breeze increased 

 to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the sound." 



As they advanced, the "Croker Mountains" disappeared into 

 thin air, and Parry proceeded as far as the mouth of a great inlet, 

 which he named Barrow Strait. Entering this, he sailed onward 

 to Prince Regent Inlet, which, with various capes, bays and islands, 

 he named and surveyed. On approaching the magnetic (not the 

 actual) north pole, he found his compasses rendered almost useless 

 by the "dip" or "variation" of the needle. Great was then the 

 excitement on board the two ships; the excitement increased to 

 enthusiasm when, on September 4th, after crossing the meridian of 

 113 degrees west longitude, Parry announced to his men that they 

 had earned the government grant of 5,000. This was offered to 

 the navigator who should penetrate to the meridian of no degrees 

 west, within the Arctic Circle. 



Two weeks later, they were beset by the ice, and in the Hecla 

 and Griper Bay, on Melville Island, Parry resolved to pass the 

 winter. In the following year, the thaw did not set in until July, 

 and it was August before Parry released his ships. Then he started 

 for home, and on arriving in England, about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, 1820, was received with a hearty welcome. 



His success led to his appointment to the command of another 

 expedition in 1821. His ships, the "Hecla" and "Fury," were 

 equipped with every appliance that scientific ingenuity could sug- 

 gest or unlimited resources provide. They sailed from the Nore 

 on the 8th of May; they returned to the Shetland Isles on the loth 

 of October, 1823. In the interval seven-and-twenty months 

 Parry and Lyon (his lieutenant) discovered the Duke of York Bay, 

 numerous inlets on the northeast coast of the American mainland, 

 Winter Island, the islands of Annatook and Ooght, Hecla and Fury 

 Strait, Melville Peninsula, and Cockburn Island. A glance at the 

 map will show the reader how far to the westward these discoveries 

 carried the boundary of the known region. 



