Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 285 



by the Commissioners of Longitude, in their me- 

 morial to the King, that " the progress of discovery 

 had not arrived northwards, according to any well- 

 authenticated accounts, so far as 81° of north lati- 

 tude." The exception he alludes to is in favour of 

 Mr. Scoresby, who states his having, in the year 

 1806, reached the latitude of 81° 12' 42" by actual 

 observation, and 81° 30' by dead reckoning. " I 

 therefore consider," says Parry, " the latter parallel 

 as, in all probability, the highest which had ever 

 been attained prior to the attempt recorded in the 

 following pages." 



When all was ready Captain Parry was appointed 

 to the command of H. M. sloop Hecla, with instruc- 

 tions to proceed in her to Spitzbergen, to place 

 her in some safe harbour or cove, and, leaving her 

 in charge of Lieutenant Foster, to proceed with the 

 boats directly to the northward, using his best en- 

 deavours to reach the North Pole ; to be careful to 

 return to Spitzbergen before the winter sets in, and 

 early enough in the autumn to insure the Hecla 

 not being frozen up and obliged to winter there. 

 He was to direct Lieutenant Foster to survey the 

 northern and eastern coasts of Spitzbergen in his 

 absence. The officers attached to the Hecla were 

 Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, the former a most 

 distinguished scientific navigator, who, as already 

 said, lost his life on the Isthmus of Panama ; the 

 latter now captain of the Terror, on the existing 



