ARCTIC VOYAGES, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



351 



axis of the globe, Parry had the glory of reaching the highest authenticated 

 latitude ever yet attained (82° 40' 30"). On their return to the " Hecla," which 

 awaited them under Captain Forester in Treurenberg Bay, on the northern 

 coast of Spitzbergen, the boats encountered a dreadful storm on the open sea, 

 which obliged them to bear up for Walden Island — one of the most northerly 

 rocks of the archipelago— where, fortunately, a reserve supply of provisions had 

 been deposited. " Every thing belonging to us," says Sir Edward Parry, " was 

 now completely drenched by the spray and snow ; we had been fifty-six hours 

 without rest, and forty-eight at work in the boats, so that by the time they were 

 unloaded we had barely strength to haul them up on the rocks. However, by 

 dint of great exertion, we managed to get the boats above the surf, after which, 

 a hot supper, a blazing fire of drift-wood, and a few hours' quiet rest restored 

 us." He who laments over the degeneracy of the human race, and supposes it 

 to have been more vigorous or endowed with greater powers of endurance in 

 ancient times, may perhaps come to a different opinion when reading of Parry 

 and his companions. 



Thus ended the last of this great navigator's Arctic voyages. Born in the 

 year 1790, of a family of seamen, Parry at an early age devoted himself, heart 

 and soul, to the profession in which his father had grown old. In his twenty- 

 eighth year he discovered Melville Island, and his subsequent expedition con- 

 firmed the excellent reputation he had acquired by his first brilliant success. 

 From the years 1829 to 1834 we find him in 'New South Wales, as Resident 

 Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company. In the year 1837 he 

 was appointed to organize the mail-packet service, then transferred to the Ad- 

 miralty, and after filling the post of Captain Superintendent of the Royal Naval 

 Hospital at Haslar, was finally appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital. He 

 died in the summer of 1855 at Ems. 



Ten years had elapsed since Captain John Ross's first unsuccessful voyage, 

 when the veteran seaman, anxious to obliterate the reproach of former failure 

 by some worthy achievement, was enabled, through the munificence of Sir Felix 

 Booth, to accomplish his wishes. A small Liverpool steamer, bearing the rath- 

 er presumptuous name of the " Victory," was purchased for the voyage, a rather 

 unfortunate selection, for surely nothing can be more unpractical than paddle- 

 boxes among ice-blocks ; but to make amends for this error, the commander of 

 the expedition was fortunate in being accompanied by his nephew^ Commander 

 James Ross, who, with every quality of the seaman, united the zeal of an able 

 naturalist. He it was who, by his well-executed sledge journeys, made the 

 chief discoveries of the expedition ; but the voyage of the " Victory " is far less 

 remarkable for successes achieved than for its unexampled protraction during 

 a period of five years. 



The first season ended well. On August 10, 1829, the "Victory" entered 

 Prince Regent's Inlet, and reached on the 13th the spot where Parry, on his 

 third voyage, had been obliged to abandon the " Fury." The ship itself had 

 been swept away ; but all her sails, stores, and provisions on land were found 

 untouched. The hermetically sealed tin canisters in which the flour, meat, bread, 

 wine, spirits, sugar, etc., were packed had preserved them from the attacks of 



