Resolution Island. 67 



yce, driving forward another, should at length get 

 scope and sea roome. Having by this means, at 

 length put their enemies to flight, they occupyed 

 the cleare space for a prettye season, among sundry 

 mountains and Alpes of yce." (What would our 

 skilful whaling captains of the present time think of 

 this mode of forcing a passage through the ice ?) 



Turning to later voyages, Parry, in 1821, was 

 closely beset by the ice in this same locality, con- 

 sisting of loose masses of broken floes, amongst 

 which his two ships the " Hecla " and " Fury " 

 drifted about for fourteen days before they were able 

 to extricate themselves. He speaks of the scene as 

 being " indescribably dreary and disagreeable." 



The gallant Sir John Franklin also bears testi- 

 mony to the dangers to be apprehended by naviga- 

 tors in these waters, for whilst on his way out in 

 1819, to undertake in conjunction with Dr. Richard- 

 son and Sir George Back (then Mr. Back) that 

 memorable and perilous journey over land to the 

 shores of the Polar Sea, he alludes to " that dan- 

 gerous, and by all abhorred, island Resolution, in 

 the mouth of Hudson's Straits, near the rocky shores 

 of which, usually beset with heavy ice, fogs, and 

 irregular currents, the vessel narrowly escaped ship- 

 wreck ; " and lastly, that distinguished officer, Ad- 

 miral Sir George Back, himself, when in command 

 of H.M.S. " Terror" in 1836, previous to those 

 extraordinary and unprecedented perils for which 



