108 THE SEA. 



nessing the bold and decisive tone in which the orders were issued by the commander of 

 our little vessel (Franklin), and the promptitude and steadiness with which they were 

 executed by the crew. Each person instinctively secured his own hold, and, with his eyes 

 fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of the concussion. It 

 soon arrived; the brig, cutting her way through the light ice, came in violent contact 

 with the main body. In an instant we all lost our footing, the masts bent with the 

 impetus, and the cracking timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated to 

 awaken our serious apprehensions. " So great was the motion of the vessel that the ship's 

 bells tolled continually, and they were ordered to be muffled; the heaviest gale of wind 

 had never before made them strike. After many dangers from the ice the pack broke up 

 sufficiently to release the ships, both of which were greatly disabled, while the Dorothea 

 was in a foundering condition. They proceeded as well as they could to Fair Haven, 

 Spitzbergen, where the damages were in some sort repaired, and they sailed for home. 



The character of Sir William Edward Parry, who carried the Union Jack nearer the 

 Pole than any explorer prior to Markham and Parr, was truly admirable, while his services 

 to his country were as brilliant as they were numerous. In every way he was an honour 

 to the British navy, such a union of lofty heroism, consummate nautical skill, and calm 

 daring, is almost without parallel. The amiability and benevolence of his manners endeared 

 him to all ranks of the service, and made him the idol of his men, whom he never failed 

 to encourage by all the means in his power. His name, though written in snow and ice, 

 is imperishable, for his heart was in his work, and he always believed in its future success. 

 In the four voyages made under his command to the Arctic seas he was most careful of 

 the health and comfort of his followers, and lost fewer hands than any other commander 

 in these parts ; and when we remember the kind of vessels he sometimes sailed in (the 

 Griper, in particular, being about as unseaworthy a ship as could well be sent ou* of dock), 

 we can only wonder at his patience under difficulties and the persevering energy which 

 kept him "pegging away/' 



The son of a celebrated physician, Dr. Caleb Hillier Parry, he was born at Bath on 

 the 19th of December, 1760, and was intended originally for his father's profession ; but 

 circumstances having occurred to alter his determination, he was appointed to the Ville 

 de Paris, the flagship of Admiral Cornwallis's Channel Fleet, as a volunteer of the first 

 class. Here he remained for three years, during which period he was engaged in an 

 action off Brest Harbour. Fortunate in making his first essay of a seaman's life under 

 officers who were desirous of winning the esteem and affection of those beneath them, 

 he soon became a favourite, and the admiral, on his leaving the ship, thus records his 

 opinion of him : " Parry is a fine, steady lad. I never knew any one so generally approved 

 of. He will receive civility and kindness from all while he continues to conduct himself 

 as he has done, which, I dare believe, will be as long as he lives." He was after- 

 wards appointed to the Tribune frigate and to the Vanguard, and was frequently engaged 

 with the Danish gun-boats in the Baltic. 



In 1810 he gained his epaulet, and joined the Alexandria frigate, in which, after 

 serving in the Baltic, he made his first acquaintance with polar ice between North Cape 

 and Bear Island; and he subsequently joined the La Hogne at Halifax. In 1814 he 



