Polar Explorations. 139 



The remarkable enterprise of attempting to travel over 

 the ice to the north pole, was undertaken by Capt. Parry, 

 under the auspices of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1827. 



He embarked in the Hecla, already famous in the annals 

 of arctic discovery, with a crew and officers accustomed to 

 braving the storms and ice of the north, and proceeded to 

 Spitzbergen, where after encountering many obstructions, 

 and delays from the ice, the Hecla was placed in a secure 

 harbor uf that island. 



On the 21st of June, Capt. Parry left the ship accompa- 

 nied by four officers, in two boats with sufficient crews, and 

 crossed a strip of open sea north east of Spitzbergen, a dis- 

 tance of forty miles, where they commenced their journey 

 over the ice. The boats were fitted with runners to be 

 drawn by the men as sledges, or should they meet with open 

 passages of water to be crossed with paddles and oars. 

 They took provisions for seventy-one days, of the most port- 

 able and nutritious kinds, which with the boats, clothmg, 

 utensils, and other necessaries made up a weight equal to 

 200 lbs. for each man. The ice proved very " hummocky" 

 and broken, and was so covered with sludge, and deep snow, 

 as to make the travelling excessively fatiguing and uncom- 

 fortable : added to these impediments, lanes of water were 

 of frequent occurrence, occasioning the necessity of launch- 

 ing the boats, and again hauling them up six or eight times, 

 and in one instance seventeen times in one day. The sur- 

 face was so rough and deep, that the united strength of offi- 

 cers and men could not in every instance transport the boats 

 and baggage, but after conveying a part, they were obliged 

 to return for the remainder until the whole was removed. 

 Capt. Parry and Lieut. Ross preceded the rest to select the 

 best routes. The sledges having been conveyed as far as 

 they had explored, they all returned for the residue of bag- 

 gage, generally traversing, for the first fortnight, the same 

 road four and five times over, before they could effect the 

 entire transportation of their boats and stores. The whole 

 journey was performed and completed in boots and stock- 

 ings, thoroughly wet to the knees with snow water. At night, 

 if such it could be called where the sun did not set, the larg- 

 est surface of ice was selected — the boats hauled up and 

 placed alongside, and an awning made of the sails supported 

 by three paddles, and the bamboo masts. Under this shel- 

 ter they exchanged their wet clothes for their fur sleepuig 



