204 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [parti 
officers in ice navigation. The greatest practical result 
was that his voyage showed the way to the whalers, 
and that by reaching the north water of Baffin's Bay 
they would find another very lucrative whale fishery. 
It was another example of the use of Arctic enterprises 
in furthering the commercial prosperity of the country 
which encourages them. 
On the return of Ross's expedition there was an 
outcry about the supposed closing of Lancaster Sound, 
as some of the officers believed it to be a wide channel 
leading westward. Lieut. Parry was decidedly of that 
opinion. Sir John Barrow strongly represented the doubt 
to the Board of Admiralty, and it was decided that 
another expedition should be despatched in 1819. 
