218 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
On the 20th of July the ships were released from their 
winter quarters and, standing over to the west side, 
began to shape a course to the south. Then the ice 
in the centre of the channel approached the land, and 
drove both ships on shore. They were got off, but the 
Fury was seriously damaged, officers and men being 
nearly exhausted by their efforts to keep her afloat. 
On the 21st August she was once more driven on to 
a stony beach under a very lofty perpendicular cliff, 
and hopelessly stranded. The hold was full of water. 
The greater part of her stores were landed and she was 
abandoned, officers and men being taken on board the 
Hecla. The Hecla reached Peterhead on the 12th of 
October, 1825, all hands in excellent health. 
For a time Parry's Arctic work was laid aside, and 
on the 23rd of October, 1826, he was married to Isabella, 
daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley. Meanwhile his 
proposal to attempt an approach to the Pole by way of 
Spitsbergen was under the consideration of the Admiralty. 
The idea was to make the attempt in boats, which might 
be hauled over intervening ice. The Admiralty approved, 
and the Hecla was ordered to be commissioned again, 
Mrs Parry hoisting the pennant, to the delight of all the 
old Arctics at Deptford. At this time Parry was also 
filling the office of Hydrographer at the Admiralty. His 
hands were pretty full. 
The officers of the Hecla were Lieutenants James 
C. Ross, Crozier, and Foster, Assistant Surgeon Beverley, 
and Mr Halse the purser, who had served in all Parry's 
expeditions. 
The Hecla rounded Hakluyt Headland and reached 
the high latitude of 8i° 5' N. on June 14th, 1827. Parry 
then placed the ship in a good harbour called Hecla 
Cove, on the north coast of Spitsbergen, in 79 0 55' N. 
and 16 0 53' E. Crozier was left in command, and Foster 
was fully occupied with his scientific observations. The 
two boats, called the Enterprise and Endeavour, left 
Hecla Cove on the 21st of June, Parry and Dr Beverley 
being in the first, James Ross and Bird in the second, 
with ten seamen and two marines in each. The boats 
were flat-bottomed, 20 feet long, with an extreme width 
of 7 feet carried well fore and aft. Their timbers were 
