22 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. 



service; and his acts and his book prove it. His pa- 

 tron who recommended him was himself a thorough- 

 bred seaman, an honest, straight-forward, and down- 

 right # officer, and sincerely believed, no doubt, that 

 the person he named was an active and zealous offi- 

 cer " in the ordinary duties of his profession ;" but 

 there is reason to believe that, in offering him the 

 command of a Voyage of Discovery, he had not 

 given due consideration to the qualifications that 

 such a command required. 



Lieutenant Parry, who commanded the Alex- 

 ander, served several years on the coast of North 

 America, where he was distinguished as an excellent 

 navigator, theoretical as well as practical. He drew 

 up a little treatise, especially for the use of the 

 young officers of the fleet, on nautical astronomy, 

 containing directions for finding the principal fixed 

 stars visible in the northern hemisphere. A copy 

 of this with the necessary drawings being sent to 

 his father, Dr. Parry of Bath, he had it printed. 

 While employed in America, led by a spirit of enter- 

 prise, he volunteered for, and was appointed to, the 

 Congo expedition under Captain Tuckey, but fortu- 

 nately could not join in time. Still, however, his 

 attention was drawn towards African discovery, and 



* The word reminds one of a very significant sobriquet on 

 Admiral Sir James Saumarez, Flag-Captain Sir George Hope, 

 and the Ship's Captain Dumaresq — the three designated as up- 

 right, doivn-right, and never-right. 



