296 Captain Sir W. Parry on the 



without the ship incurring any material risk, since the navi- 

 gation, both out and home, need only be performed at a sea- 

 son when the sea is very little encumbered with ice ; and, 

 moreover, an opportunity would be afforded during two sea- 

 sons, of stretching far to the northward in the ship, if the 

 state of the ice should prove favourable. I remain, yours, &c. 



" W. Parr^." 

 " Sir John Baerow, Bart." 



The plan here described is, no doubt^ an improvement over 

 the one that failed ; but without presuming too much, not 

 being altogether unacquainted with a ship navigating among 

 what is called sailing -ice, it may be allowable to suggest an- 

 other and a different plan, and perhaps, on the whole, less 

 objectionable. It would consist of two small ships similar 

 to those which, after three years' service in the Antarctic 

 Seas, are now engaged in the ice of the North Polar Seas ; 

 they should be sent in the early spring along the western 

 coast of Spitzbergen, where usually no impediment exists, as 

 far up as 80° ; take every opportunity of proceeding directly 

 to the north, where, about 82°, Parry has told us, the large 

 floes had disappeared, and the sea there was found to be 

 loaded only with loose, disconnected, small masses of ice, 

 through which ships would find no difficulty in sailing, though 

 totally unfit for boats dragging ; and as this loose ice was 

 drifting to the southward, he further says, that, before the 

 middle of August, a ship might have sailed up to the latitude 

 of 82°, almost without touching a piece of ice. It is not then 

 unreasonable to expect, that beyond that parallel, even as far 

 as the Pole itself, the sea would be free of ice during the six 

 months of perpetual sun through each of the 24 hours ; which, 

 with the aid of the current, would, in all probability, destroy 

 and dissipate the Polar ice. 



If, then, on the return of Sir John Franklin's ships, the 

 screw-propeller supplied to each should have been found to 

 answer, a fair opportunity would be afforded of deciding the 

 question. The trial would soon be made, and from the ex- 

 perience of Parry, would be made without danger of loss to 

 ships or men ; for it is probable they would not have any ice- 



