NORTH POLAR EXPEDITIONS. 



of pressing forward to Kotzebue sound, and returned 

 to the Great Bear lake, which he entered September 

 21. The point which this expedition reached lies 

 in about 70" 30' N. lat. Collections in natural his- 

 tory, magnetical experiments, and observations on 

 the effect of the aurora borealis upon the magnetic 

 needle, were the fruits of this expedition, from which 

 attain Franklin returned to London, September, 

 1827. See Franklin's Second Expedition to the Polar 

 Sea (London, 1828) ; Richardson's Fauna Bor Am. 

 (1820) ; and Beechey's Voyage to Beering's Straits 

 (London, 1831). 



The admiralty now sent captain Parry, in the He- 

 cla, to reach the north pole. He took reindeer and 

 ice boats on board at Hammerfast, in Lapland 

 reached Spitzbergen, May 27, 1827 ; left the Hecla 

 there in the ice; sailed, June 21, with two boats, 

 through an open sea ; left the boats on the 24th, and 

 began (81 12' 51") his journey over the ice to the 

 north pole. But after thirty-five days' journey over 

 the ice, during which it rained almost all the time, 

 he reached only the latitude of 82 45' 15". The ice 

 was everywhere broken. At length he was com- 

 pelled to return, as the ice was driven to the south. 

 He had travelled over 292 miles in a right line, and 

 580 with the necessary windings. The southerly 

 course of the ice facilitated his return. After forty- 

 eight days' passage through the ice, Parry reached 

 (August 12) Table island, and, August 21, after 

 sixty-one days' absence, the Kecla. The dip of the 

 magnetic needle had constantly been towards the 

 north, and the western variation diminished. From 

 the eighty-first degree there was no drift ice, iior 

 birds, nor whales, to be seen, and, with 500 fathoms, 

 no bottom could be found. September 29, 1827, 

 captain Parry and captain Franklin entered the ad- 

 miralty office within the same half hour. See Parry's 

 Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole 

 (London, 1828). 



In the spring of 1829, captain Ross, chiefly through 

 the liberal assistance of Felix Booth, Esq., sheriff of 

 London, undertook a private expedition into the 

 Polar seas, with a view to determine the practica- 

 bility of a new passage which had been confidently 

 said to exist, particularly by Prince Regent's inlet. 

 In consequence of the loss of the foremast of his 

 vessel (the Victory), and other untoward circum- 

 stances, he was obliged to refit at Wideford, in 

 Greenland. The accounts of his departure from 

 thence, on the 27th July, 1829, formed the last 

 authentic intelligence received of the expedition, 

 until the commander and crew were picked up, in 

 August, 1833, by captain R. W. Humphreys, of the 

 Isabella, of Hull, captain Ross's old ship. By cap- 

 tain Ross's account, it appears that the first season 

 that of 1829 was the mildest that had ever been 

 recorded, and the sea was more clear of ice than had 

 been experienced during any of the former voyages. 

 On the 14th of August, he reached the spot where 

 the Fury's stores were ; landed without difficulty, 

 and there he found the provisions, &c., but not the 

 wreck, which had totally disappeared. Having sup- 

 plied all his wants at this depot, he advanced to the 

 southward round cape Carey, from whence the west 

 coast led him in a south-west direction to the lati- 

 tude of seventy-two degrees north. Here he was, 

 for the first time, seriously impeded by the ice ; but 

 after examining an inlet, he proceeded to urge his 

 way to the southward, as near the west shore as the 

 shallowness of the water would permit, and occa- 

 sionally landed to take possession of the newly-dis- 

 covered region for the British crown, with the usual 

 ceremony. Owing to the rapidity of the tides and 

 currents, the stubborn quality of the ice, and the rocky 

 character of the coast, the voyage was perilous in the 



extreme. Having experienced several almost mira- 

 culous escapes from shipwreck, they ultimately suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the 70th deg. of latitude, in a 

 direction nearly due south of Fury point, where their 

 course was arrested by an impenetrable barrier of 

 ponderous ice. In a harbour which they found at 

 this extreme point, they wintered. In January, 

 1830, they opened a communication with a most 

 interesting tribe of natives, who had never before 

 held intercourse with strangers. Friendship being 

 soon established between the adventurous tars and 

 these primitive people, the first winter, which was 

 not more than commonly severe, was spent very 

 pleasantly. Having learned from the natives that the 

 East sea was divided from the West by a neck of 

 land, this point was examined, and all hope of effect- 

 ing a passage in that direction completely extin- 

 guished Commander Ross (nephew of captain 

 Ross), who was sent to survey the coast of the West 

 sea, leading to cape Turnagain, succeeded in getting 

 within 150 miles of it, and left off within a short dis- 

 tance of where captain Back expected Fish river to 

 join the sea. They also determined that the land 

 was continuous to that which forms Repulse bay. 

 During the autumn of 1830, the voyagers waited in 

 vain for the ice to dissolve, as it had done the pre- 

 ceding year. Although they used their utmost exer- 

 tions, they had not succeeded in retracing their 

 course more than four miles, when they were ar- 

 rested, in a very dreary position, by the approach 

 of a winter unparalleled in severity the lowest 

 temperature being 92 below the freezing point. 

 The summer proving no less rigorous for the season, 

 little hope was entertained of a release, and a farther 

 progress of fourteen miles was all they could accom- 

 plish. In October, 1831, the ship was laid up in 

 harbour, where the party endured the rigours of 

 another winter, not less severe than that of the 

 preceding year. Their provisions being consumed, 

 they had now no alternative but to abandon the ves- 

 sel, and to proceed to the spot where the Fury's 

 provisions still remained a direct distance of two 

 hundred miles, which was increased by one-half, in 

 consequence of the circuitous route which the ice 

 obliged them to take. They accordingly left the 

 Victory in May, 1832, and after a journey of uncom- 

 mon labour and hardship, they reached Fury beach 

 in the month of July. During this journey, they had 

 not only to carry their provisions and sick, but also a 

 supply of fuel ; without melting snow, they could not 

 procure even a drink of water. They repaired the 

 Fury's boats, and attempted to escape ; but it was 

 September before they reached Leopold's island, 

 which they have fully established to be the north- 

 east point of America. Here they waited with incon- 

 ceivable anxiety for a disruption of the ice, but in 

 vain. It presented one impenetrable mass, extend- 

 ing across Lancaster sound, and intercepting the 

 progress of the fishing ships, which could advance no 

 farther than Admiralty inlet, where some remained 

 so late as the 17th September in the same year. 

 Winter set in, and no choice was left but to retrace 

 their steps, and spend another inclement season in 

 canvass huts, covered with snow. Their sufferings 

 at this time, aggravated by want of beds, clothing, 

 and animal food were of the most acute description. 

 The spring and summer of 1833 afforded the desolate 

 party more cheering hopes. The ice opened on the 

 J4th of August, and on the same day that captain 

 Humphreys, in the Isabella, tried to reach Leopold's 

 island, they arrived there. The former could not 

 cross the ice, and was driven by a north-west gale 

 to the southward, up Prince Regent's inlet. The 

 party remained until the gale had departed ; and 

 having crossed when the Isabella was to the south- 



