CHAPTER XVIII 



The Ross and Parry Polar Voyages 



INTO the seas containing the goal sought by Peary and Cook in 

 the early years of the twentieth century expeditions, led by 



daring navigators, pushed in the early nineteenth, the first of 

 these being Captain Scovesby, a successful and adventurous whaler. 

 It was in a whaling voyage that he made his famous northward trip. 

 While lying- to for whales, in 1806, in the seas east of Greenland, 

 the idea entered his mind to make a bold dash toward the Polar Sea, 

 which he believed lay open to the north. 



With a boldness and energy rarely equaled he pushed his ship 

 far through the pack ice, succeeding in the end in clearing this 

 formidable barrier and entering "a great openness or sea of water," 

 in which he reached the latitude of 81 degrees 30 minutes, the 

 highest as yet attained. He added largely to our knowledge of the 

 east coast of Greenland and of the phenomena of the Arctic region. 



The next to follow was Captain John Ross, in 1818, with two 

 vessels, the "Isabella" and the "Alexander," the latter commanded 

 by Lieutenant William Parry, the man with whom we are here 

 principally concerned. With Captain Ross sailed as a midship- 

 man his nephew, James Ross, also of fame in polar annals. Both 

 these men ended their careers as admirals in the British navy, 

 under the titles of Sir John Ross and Sir James Ross. 



This expedition followed the usual Baffin Bay route and in 

 latitude 75 degrees 54 minutes met with a village of Eskimos who 

 had never before seen white men. They curiously queried: "Who 

 are you? Whence came you? Is it from the sun or the moon?" 



To these Ross gave the name of Arctic Highlanders, a desig- 



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