184 THE SEA. 



he had the proud satisfaction of having hoisted the British flag in a higher latitude than 

 ever attained before. Markham has since beaten him. Parry reached 82 45', and in 

 reaching it the party had, in the necessarily circuitous course taken, and counting the 

 constant retracing of their steps, travelled a distance nearly sufficient to have reached the 

 North Pole itself in a direct line. 



It became evident that the nature and drift of the ice were such as to preclude the 

 possibility of a final success greater than that recorded. They had now been absent from 

 the ship thirty-five days, and one-half their supplies were exhausted. Parry therefore 

 determined to give the party a day's rest, and then set out on the return. He says : 

 "Dreary and cheerless as were the scenes we were about to leave, we never turned home- 

 wards with so little satisfaction as on this occasion/'' Still, the southern current was now 

 an advantage, and they knew that every mile would tell. The return was made success- 

 fully and without any very serious casualties. Lieutenant Ross shot a fat she-bear 

 which had approached within twenty yards. Before the animal had done biting the snow, 

 one of the men was alongside of her with an open knife, cutting out the heart and liver 

 for the pot which happened to be then boiling their supper. Hardly had the bear been dead 

 an hour when all hands were employed in discussing its merits as a viand, and some of 

 them very much over-gorged themselves, and were ill in consequence, though they "attri- 

 buted this effect to the quality, and not the quantity, of meat they had eaten/' On the 

 morning of August llth the first sound of the ocean swell was heard under the hollow 

 margins of the ice, and they soon reached the open sea, which was dashing with heavy 

 surges against the outer masses. Sailing and paddling, fifty miles further brought them 

 to Table Island, where they found that bears had devoured all the bread left at the 

 depot, as arranged at the commencement of their voyage. The men naively remarked, 

 says Parry, that " Bruin was only square with us/' From a document deposited there 

 during his absence, he learned that on July 7th the Hecla had been forced on shore 

 by the ice breaking up, but that she had been hove off safely. Taking advantage of 

 a favourable breeze, they steered their boats for Walden Island, but en route had bad 

 weather, reaching it completely drenched and worn-out, having had no rest for fifty-six 

 hours. They had barely strength to haul the boats ashore above the surf; but a hot 

 supper, a blazing fire of drift-wood, and a few hours' quiet rest soon restored them. The 

 party arrived at the ship on August 21st, having been absent sixty-one days. Allowing 

 for the number of times they had to return for their baggage during most of the 

 journeys on the ice, Parry estimated their actual travelling at eleven hundred and twenty- 

 seven statute miles ; and as they were constantly exposed to wet, cold, and fatigue, as well 

 as to considerable peril, it was matter for thankfulness that all of the party returned in 

 excellent health, two only requiring some little medical care for trifling ailments. 



The future career of Parry was of a very different nature. After being knighted, 

 and feted by the people of England, in the spring of 1829 he was appointed Com- 

 missioner of the Australian Agricultural Company in New South Wales; and one who 

 visited the country a few years later wrote : " At Port Stephens Sir Edward Parry 

 found a wilderness, but left a land of hope and promise." Returning to England in 1835, 

 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Poor Law in the county of Norfolk, but 



