Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 309 



eight geographical, or eleven hundred and twenty-seven 

 statute miles. Considering our constant exposure to wet, 

 cold, and fatigue, our stockings having generally been 

 drenched in snow-w T ater for twelve hours out of every four- 

 and-twenty, I had great reason to be thankful for the excel- 

 lent health in which, upon the whole, we reached the ship. 

 There is no doubt that we had all become, in a certain de- 

 gree, gradually weaker for some time past ; but only three 

 men of our party now required medical care, two of them 

 with badly swelled legs and general debility, and the other 

 from a bruise ; but even these three returned to their duty 

 in a short time. 



" I cannot conclude the account of our proceedings with-- 

 out endeavouring to do justice to the cheerful alacrity and 

 unwearied zeal displayed by my companions, both officers 

 and men, in the course of this excursion ; and if steady per- 

 severance and active exertion on their parts could have 

 accomplished our object, success would undoubtedly have 

 crowned our labours. I must also mention, to the credit of 

 the officers of Woolwich Dockyard, who took so much pains 

 in the construction of our boats, that notwithstanding the 

 constant and severe trial to which their strength had been 

 put — and a more severe trial could not well be devised — 

 not a timber was sprung, a plank split, or the smallest 

 injury sustained by them ; they were indeed as tight and as 

 fit for service when we reached the ship, as when they were 

 first received on board, and in every respect answered the 

 intended purpose admirably.'* * — pp. 1'28, 129. 



Captain Parry gives all due credit for the diligent 

 and active manner in which Lieutenants Foster and 

 Crozier fulfilled their instructions during his ab- 



* A well-deserved compliment to the artificers of that yard, 

 and to their able master-shipwright, Mr. Oliver Lang. 



