600 THE PROGRESS OP MARITIME DISCOVERT. 



voyage to England. Franklin volunteered to prosecute the 

 enterprise with the " Trent " alone, but the Admiralty Orders 

 opposed such a proceeding, and the vessels returned home in 

 company. 



Meanwhile Captain John Eoss, with the "Isabella" and 

 "Alexander," had proceeded to Baffin's Bay, but instead of 

 exploring Smith's, Jones's, and Lancaster Sounds, which recent 

 voyages have proved to be each and all grand open channels to 

 the Polar Sea, he contented himself with Baffin's assertion that 

 they were enclosed by land, and, after having thus fruitlessly 

 accomplished the circuit of the bay, returned to England. 



With Parry's first expedition, which took place in the follow- 

 ing year (1819), the epoch of modern discoveries in the Arctic 

 Ocean, may properly be said to begin. Sailing right through 

 Lancaster Sound, he discovered Prince Eegent Inlet, "Wellington 

 Channel; and Melville Island. Willingly would he have proceeded 

 farther to the west, but the ice was now rapidly gathering, the 

 vessels were soon beset, and, after getting free with great diffi- 

 culty, Parry was only too glad to turn back, and settle down in 

 Winter Harbour. It was no easy task to attain this dreary port, 

 as a canal two miles and a third in length had first to be cut 

 through solid ice of seven inches average thickness, yet such was 

 the energy of that splendid expedition, that the Herculean 

 labour was accomplished in three days. The two vessels were 

 immediately put in winter trim, the decks housed over, heating 

 apparatus arranged, and everything done to make the ten 

 months' imprisonment in those Arctic solitudes as comfortable 

 as possible. 



It was not before the 1st of August that the ships were able 

 to leave Winter Harbour, when Parry once more stood boldly 

 for the west, but no amount of skill or patience could penetrate 

 the obstinate masses of ice, or insure the safety of the vessels 

 under the repeated shocks they sustained. Finding the barriers 

 absolutely invincible he gave way, and, steering homeward, 

 reached London on Nov. 3, 1820, where, as may well be imagined, 

 his reception was most enthusiastic and cordial. 



While this wonderful voyage was performing, Franklin, 

 Richardson, and Back, with two English sailors and a troop of 

 Canadians and Indians, were penetrating by land to the mouth 

 of the Coppermine River, whence they intended to make a 



