SUMMARY OF ARCTIC EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 741 



In 1789 Mackenzie, in the employment of tbe North-west Fur Company, made an 

 overland journey and reached the mouth of the great Polar river named after him, half 

 way between the Coppermine and Bering's Strait. The season appears to have been 

 unusually mild, for he saw the dolphins sporting in a sea, open and free of ice beyond 

 the reach of vision. If he had had a ship, in all probability he might have sailed clear 

 to the pole. The valley of the Mackenzie forms a partial exception to the otherwise 

 barren character of the Arctic regions, for there are forests reaching almost to the 

 shores of the Polar sea.^ 



In 1806, Scoresby, the elder, in the command of a whaling vessel, passed up 

 between Greenland and Spitzbergen, and reached the latitude of about 81^ within 

 640 miles of the pole, and within, perhaps, a score of miles as far north as a vessel 

 has ever gone, and within sixty miles as far as was reached by Kane or Morton, or 

 Hayes, or any other man, unless, as is said, Hall, three weeks before his death, went 

 fifty miles beyond. Before him the sea was open, and the absence of blink showed 

 that no snowy land or icy sea lay before him. He wished to burst into that open sea 

 which keel has never plowed, but his was a voyage for whales, and he had to subordi- 

 nate his scientific aspirations to the pecuniary interests of the owners of the vessel.^ 



The year 1818 is memorable for two Arctic expeditions: one under Ross and 

 Parry to discover the north-west passage, and the other under Buchan and Lieutenant 

 (afterwards Sir John) Franklin, to reach the pole. The latter went between Green- 

 land and Spitzbergen, and penetrated as far north as latitude 80° 34', got caught in 

 the ice, and was obliged to return. Ross, in command of the Isabella, and Parry, in 

 the Alexander, sailed April 18, and on the 28th entered Lancaster Sound. After 

 sailing sixty miles, land was seen apparently stretching from shore to shore ; but the 

 weather being threatening, the vessels were put about, and returned to England in 

 the following month. Ross reported that the supposed sound was a mere bay, with no 

 opening into the ocean beyond; Parry was as confident that it was a sound, and to 

 test the correctness of this he was next year put in command of an expedition more 

 completely equipped than any one which had ever before been fitted out:^ 



This expedition consisted of the Hecla, with the Griper as a consort. There were 

 ninety-four men and provisions for two years. They sailed May 11, 1819, fell in 

 with ice June 18, and were beleaguered on the 25th for a month. They entered 

 Lancaster Sound, July 30, and laid their course up the channel. Parliament had 

 offered a reward of £5,000 to the first crew which should reach the meridian of 110^ 

 W. On the 4th of September, Parry announced to his men that they had reached 

 that point, and the reward was theirs. They were now near the head of Melville 

 Sound. On the 20th, they were beset in the ice, which did not break up till August 

 2, of the following year. On the 15th they were again fast imbedded in ice, having 

 made but a few miles beyond the point which they had gained the previous year. 

 They then returned to England in good health, having settled two important points : 

 first, that there was a channel running at least half way across the continent, and pre- 

 sumably the whole distance ; and secondly, that it was possible for white men to winter 

 in the Arctic regions.* 



In the meanwhile, an overland expedition consisting of Franklin, Dr. (afterwards 

 Sir John,) Richardson, Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Back, then a midshipman, Hood, 



IP. 27, 308. 2 p. 344. 3 p. 344. 4 p. 348. 



