Winterings in the Arctic Regions during the last fifty years. 347 



the following year only a small advance towards the north was 

 made, and the winter was passed in Iglulik, when the Fury and 

 Hecla Straits were discovered and examined during the winter 

 by Parry's officers, who actually obtained a sight of the great 

 sea of the Eskimos as a large surface covered with ice, which 

 was afterwards known as the Gulf of JBoothia. 



After this second successful wintering, Parry returned with his 

 two ships in good condition to England, having furnished, by 

 passing two consecutive winters in the arctic regions with very 

 little loss of life, a proof that it was very possible for Europeans 

 to dwell in winter in those latitudes. 



In the following year (1824) Parry sailed again for the 

 discovery of the north-west passage, having set before him for 

 this purpose the examination of the great passage, Prince-Re- 

 gent Inlet, which had been observed on his first voyage. Being 

 detained by the unfavourable condition of the ice in Baffin's 

 Bay, Parry was compelled to winter in Port Bowen, a small har- 

 bour on the east coast of Prince-Regent Inlet. Here he had 

 the misfortune of having one of his crew drowned. 



He examined by land the west coast of Cockburn's Land, from 

 his winter-harbour southwards to 72° N. lat., and northwards to 

 Lancaster Sound. In the summer of the following year Parry 

 went to the other side of Prince-Regent Inlet and investigated 

 Creswell Bay, but lost his ship the 'Fury.' With his usual 

 foresight Parry had the provisions and the extra stores of 

 clothing brought on shore and enclosed in a wooden house built 

 for this purpose. This depot was of incalculable value to sub- 

 sequent expeditions ; and the stores assisted the last Franklin- 

 expedition under M'Clintock, as much as thirty-three years after- 

 wards, to complete their own equipment. 



The land and coast expeditions in the north of America, car- 

 ried out before 1830 by Richardson, Franklin, and Beechey, 

 were ^obliged to winter under very different conditions ; and as 

 we have here chiefly to show what has been attained by means 

 of ships, and how the dangers of the arctic winter maybe dimi- 

 nished in naval expeditions, they need not be taken into consi- 

 deration. It is sufficient to say that, with enormous toil and the 

 loss of many men, they discovered and surveyed the north coast 

 of North America from Cape Turnagain in 109° W. long, to 

 Return Reef in 148°. 



The next great naval expedition was undertaken by Sir John 

 Ross in 1829*. It was fitted out by Sir Felix Bootli, a rich mer- 

 chant ; and Ross desired by this voyage to reestablish his fame 



* Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a North-west Passage, and 

 of a residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 

 1832, 1833. by Sir John Ross, Captain in the Royal Navy. London, 1835. 



2A2 



