ARCTIC VOYAGES, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



845 



high northern latitude, and then to stretch across to the westward, in the hope 

 of being able to pass the northern extremity of America, and reach Bering's 

 Strait by that route. As respects the purposes for which it was sent out, this 

 expedition likewise ended in disappointment ; for though Ross defined more 

 clearly the Greenland coast to the north of the Danish possessions between 

 Cape Melville and Smith's Sound, he was satisfied with making a very cursory 

 examination of all the great channels leading from Baffin's Bay into the Polar 

 Sea. After sailing for some little distance up Lancaster Sound, he was arrest- 

 ed by the atmospheric deception of a range of mountains, extending right 

 across the passage, and concluding it useless to persevere, he at once — to the 

 great astonishment and mortification of his officers — abandoned a course which 

 was to render his successor illustrious. As may easily be imagined, the man- 

 ner in which Ross had conducted this expedition failed to satisfy the authori- 

 ties at home ; and thus, in the following year, the " Hecla " and " Griper " were 

 commissioned for the purpose of exploring the sound, whose entrance only had 

 been seen by Baffin and Ross. The former ship was placed under the Com- 

 mand of Parry, and the latter under that of Lieutenant Matthew Liddon. 



With this brilliant voyage, the epoch of modern discoveries in the Arctic 

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

 over the site of Ross's imaginary Croker Mountains, Parry passed Barrow's 

 Strait, and after exploring Prince Regent Inlet, whence the ice compelled 

 him to return to the main channel, he discovered Wellington Channel (August 

 22), and soon after had the satisfaction of announcing to his men that, having 

 reached 110° W. long., they were entitled to the king's bounty of £5000, se- 

 cured by order of council to " such of His Majesty's subjects as might succeed 

 in penetrating thus far to the west within the Arctic Circle." After passing and 

 naming Melville Island, a little progress was still made westward ; but the ice 

 was now rapidly gathering, the vessels were soon beset, and, after getting free 

 with great difficulty. Parry was only too glad to turn back and settle down in 

 Winter Harbor. 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 the men that the herculean 

 labor was executed in three days. The two vessels were immediately unrigged, 

 the decks housed over, a heating apparatus arranged, and every thing made as 

 comfortable as possible. To relieve the monotony of the long winter's night, 

 plays were acted every fortnight, a school estabhshed, and a newspaper set on 

 foot — certainly the first periodical ever issued in so high a latitude. During 

 the day the men were employed for exercise in banking up the ships with snow 

 or making excursions within a certain distance ; and when the weather forbade 

 their leaving shelter, they were obliged to run round the decks to the tune of a 

 barrel-organ. 



In January the cold became more and more intense. On the 12th it was 

 51° below zero in the open air, and on the 14th the thermometer fell to 54°. 

 On February 24 a fire broke out in a small house which had been built near 

 the ships, to serve as an observatory for Captain Sabine, who accompanied the 

 expedition as astronomer. All hands rushed to the spot to endeavor to sub- 



