CHAPTER XXIII 
PARRY AND HIS SCHOOL 
Sir Edward Parry was one of the greatest of Arctic 
discoverers. Without an equal as an organiser and 
administrator, unsurpassed as a leader of men, he was 
an accomplished officer and a bold and resolute navigator, 
knowing when to take risks and when to avoid them. 
Parry was a very perfect sailor, thoroughly well read in 
all that concerned his enterprises, thoughtful and level- 
headed. While promoting hilarity and good-fellowship, 
he was, through life, deeply yet unostentatiously religious. 
He was the beau ideal of an Arctic officer. 
Parry was the son of a physician at Bath, where he 
went to school. As a boy he was tall and athletic, very 
popular, with a good ear for music, a talent for acting, 
and a habit of doing all he had to do with all his might. 
Miss Cornwallis, a friend of the family and a near relation 
of the Admiral then in command of the fleet blockading 
Brest, obtained an appointment for him. Young Parry 
could not have entered the service under better auspices. 
He continued to serve in the Channel, Baltic, and North 
Sea, always fortunate with his captains and winning 
their regard, until he attained the rank of Lieutenant. 
His next service was on the coast of Scotland, and one 
season his ship was employed to protect the returning 
whalers, when he made his first acquaintance with pack 
ice. In these days Parry was devoted to the study of 
navigation and surveying. He made several useful 
surveys of harbours in Scotland, which his captain sent 
to the Hydrographer, and he wrote a little book on 
nautical astronomy for the use of young officers which his 
father caused to be printed. It contained useful direc- 
tions for finding stars in the northern hemisphere. 
In 1813 he served on the North American station, 
and was engaged in an important and very dangerous 
boat action up the Connecticut river, when between 
