Polar Explorations. 129 



On the 29th of July they found themselves in a clear sea, in 

 73° 51' N. lat. 67° 47' W. long, and no bottom with three hun- 

 dred and ten fathoms of line. As the wind freshened the ice 

 disappeared, and they seemed to have arrived at the head 

 quarters of the whales, eighty two having been seen in one 

 day. They made good progress due west in lat. 74° meet- 

 ing with no obstruction from the ice, and were sanguine in the 

 belief that they had found the passage to the polar sea ; but 

 on the 6th of August, land was discovered ahead, which 

 proved to be the first of a group of islands, commencing in 

 lat. 74° 39' N. on the north west side of Baffin's Bay. They 

 were named the North Georgian Islands, by Capt. Parry. 

 Their geognostical character, and their animal and vegeta- 

 ble productions were minutely examined, and their precise 

 latitude and longitude were ascertained, with a due atten- 

 tion to every object interesting to science. 



On the 4th of September the expedition reached the 

 110th degree of west longitude, and thus became entitled to 

 the reward of five thousand pounds, ordered by his majesty 

 for such of his subjects as should penetrate thus far within 

 the arctic circle. The hope of pressing forward through 

 this opening into the polar ocean direct to Bhering's strait, 

 exhilarated every individual with the most animating antici- 

 pations : and in imagination they had already obtained the 

 great object which had interested the world for nearly three 

 centuries, and in which more than forty expeditions had fail- 

 ed. But the ice soon arrested their progress, and the rapid 

 advance of winter compelled them to seek a harbor for their 

 ships. At Melville Island, the most western of the North 

 Georgian cluster, they established their winter quarters, by 

 sawing a channel for the ships through the ice, in many parts 

 eight feet thicTi, two miles and a half round, into a sheltered 

 anchorage, which Capt. Parry named Winter Harbor ; 

 where they were to remain during the long darkness of the 

 polar night. This was in 74° N. lat. and 11 2 W. long. After 

 their recent escapes and dangers, they rejoiced in their pres- 

 ent security and in an intermission from anxiety and fatigue. 



The officers were now diligently engaged in arranging 

 every thing which could conduce to their own and the peo- 

 ple's comfort. An observatory was erected on the ice, for 

 astronomical purposes, and a snow house for magnetic ob- 

 servations. Divine service was performed upon the sabbath, 

 evening schools were established to instruct the men in read= 



Vol. XVI.— No. 1. 17 



