100 PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 



the crews to endure the most extreme rigors of a polar 

 winter. 



Lieut. Parry, destined to outstrip all his predecessors 

 in the career of northern discovery, weighed anchor at 

 the Nore on the llth May, 1819, and on the 20th 

 rounded the remotest point of the Orkneys. He endeav- 

 ored to cross the Atlantic about the parallel of 58, and, 

 though impeded during the first fortnight of June by a 

 course of unfavorable weather, obtained, on the 15th, 

 from the distance apparently of not less than forty 

 leagues, a view of the lofty cliffs composing Cape Fare- 

 well. On the 18th the ships first fell in with icebergs, 

 the air being also filled with petrels, kittiwakes, terns, 

 and other winged inhabitants of the northern sky. He 

 now made an effort to push north and west, through the 

 icy masses, in the direction of Lancaster Sound ; but 

 these suddenly closed upon him ; and on the 25th both 

 vessels were so immovably beset, that no power could 

 turn their heads a single point of the compass. They 

 remained thus fixed, but safe, when, on the morning of 

 the second day, a heavy roll of the sea loosened the 

 ice, and drove it against them with such violence, that 

 only their very strong construction saved them from 

 severe injury. The discoverers, therefore, were fain to 

 extricate themselves as soon as possible ; and, resign- 

 ing the idea of reaching Lancaster Sound by the most 

 direct course, resolved to steer northward along the 

 border of this great icy field till they should find open 

 water. In this progress they verified the observation 

 of Davis, that in the narrowest part of the great 6ea> 

 misnamed his Strait, the shores on each side could be 

 Been at the same moment. Thus they proceeded till 

 they reached the Women's Islands and Hope Sanderson, 

 in about latitude 73. As every step was now likely to 

 carry them further from their destination, Parry dete*- 



