ver, nor the slightest sign of alarm. Prayers were read, and they then all sat down in groups, sheltered from the wash of the sea by whatever they could find, and some endeavored to obtain a little sleep. Never, perhaps was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible that among forty-one persons not one repining word should have been uttered. Each was at peace with his neighbor and all the world; and I am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the Almighty, was the means of obtaining His mercy. God was merciful to us, and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower." The appropriate name of the Bay of God's Mercy has been given to this spot on the charts by Captain Lyon.

Proceeding onward up the Welcome, they encountered, about a fortnight later, another fearful storm. On the 12th of September, when off the entrance of Wager Inlet, it blew so hard for two days, that on the 13th the ship was driven from her anchors, and carried away by the fury of the gale, with every prospect of being momentarily dashed to pieces against any hidden rock; but the same good Providence which had so recently befriended them, again stood their protector. On consulting with his officers, it was unanimously resolved, that in the crippled state of the ship, without any anchor, and with her compasses worse than useless, it would be madness to continue the voyage, and the ship's course was therefore shaped for England.

I may observe, that the old Griper is now laid up as a hulk in Chichester Harbor, furnishing a residence and depot for the coast guard station.

PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE.

In the spring of 1824 the Admiralty determined to give Capt. Parry another opportunity of carrying ort

the great problem which had so long been sought af ter, of a northwest passage to the Pacific, and so generally esteemed was this gallant commander that he had but to hoist his pennant, when fearless of all danger, and in a noble spirit of emulation, his former associates rallied around him.

The same two ships were employed as before, but Parry now selected the Hecla for his pennant. The staff of officers and men was as follows:

Hecla.

Captain-W. E. Parry.

Lieutenants-J. L. Wynn, Joseph Sherer, and Henry Foster.

Surgeon-Samuel Neill, M. D.

Purser W. H. Hooper.

w

Assistant Surgeon-W. Rowland.

Midshipmen-J. Brunton, F. R. M. Crozier, C. Richards, and H. N. Head.

Greenland Pilots-J. Allison, master; and G. Champion, mate.

49 Petty Officers, Seamen, and Marines.

Total complement, 62.

Fury.

Commander-H. P. Hoppner.

Lieutenants H. T. Austin and J. C. Ross.

Surgeon A. M’Laren.

Purser J. Halse.

Assistant Surgeon T. Bell.

Midshipmen - B. Westropp, C. C. Waller, and E. Bird.

Clerk-W. Mogg.

Greenland Pilots-G. Crawford, master; T. Donaldson, mate.

48 Petty Officers, Seamen, and Marines.

Total complement, 60.

The William Harris, transport, was commissioned to accompany the ships to the ice with provisions.

F

Among the promotions made, it will be seen, were Lieut. Hoppner to the rank of Commander, and second in command of the expedition. Messrs. J. Sherer, and J. C. Ross to be Lieutenants, and J. Halse to be Purser. The attempt on this occasion was to be made by Lancaster Sound through Barrow's Strait to Prince Regent Inlet. The ships sailed on the 19th of May, 1824, and a month afterward fell in with the body of the ice in lat. 6010. After transhipping the stores to the two vessels, and sending home the transport, about the middle of July they were close beset with the ice in Baffin's Bay, and "from this time (says Parry) the obstructions from the quantity, magnitude, and closeness of the ice, which were such as to keep our people almost constantly employed in heaving, warping, or sawing through it; and yet with so little success that, at the close of July, we had only penetrated seventy miles to the westward." After encountering a severe gale on the 1st of August, by which masses of overlaying ice were driven one upon the other, the Hecla was laid on her broadside by a strain, which Parry says must inevitably have crushed a vessel of ordinary strength; they got clear of the chief obstructions by the first week in September. During the whole of August they had not one day sufficiently free from rain, snow, or sleet, to be able to air the bedding of the ship's company.

They entered Lancaster Sound on the 10th of September, and with the exception of a solitary berg or two found it clear of ice. A few days after, however, they fell in with the young ice, which increasing daily in thickness, the ships became beset, and by the current which set to the east at the rate of three miles an hour, they were soon drifted back to the eastward of Admiralty Inlet, and on the 23d they found themselves again off Wollaston Island, at the entrance of Navy Board Inlet. By perseverance, however, and the aid of a strong easterly breeze, they once more managed to recover their lost ground, and on the 27th reached the entrance of Port Bowen on the eastern

shore of Prince Regent Inlet, and here Parry resolved upon wintering; this making the fourth winter this enterprising commander had passed in these inhospitable seas.

The usual laborious process of cutting canals had to be resorted to, in order to get the ships near to the shore in secure and sheltered situations. Parry thus describes the dreary monotonous character of an arctic winter :

"It is hard to conceive any one thing more like another than two winters passed in the higher latitudes of the polar regions, except when variety happens to be afforded by intercourse with some other branch of the whole family of man. Winter after winter, nature here assumes an aspect so much alike, that cursory observation can scarcely detect a single feature of variety. The winter of more temperate climates, and even in some of no slight severity, is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect. But here, when once the earth is covered, all is dreary monotonous whiteness, not merely for days or weeks, but for more than half a year together. Whichever way the eye is turned, it meets a picture calculated to impress upon the mind an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor with which our feelings have nothing congenial; of any thing, in short, but life. In the very silence there is a deadness with which a human spectator appears out of keeping. The presence of man seems an intrusion on the dreary solitude of this wintry desert, which even its native animals have for awhile forsaken."

During this year Parry tells us the thermometer remained below zero 131 days, and did not rise above that point till the 11th of April. The sun, which had been absent from their view 121 days, again blessed the crews with his rays on the 22d of February. Du ring this long imprisonment, schools, scientific observations, walking parties, &c., were resorted to, but "our former amusements," says Parry, "being almost worn hreadbare, it required some ingenuity to devise any

plan that should possess the charm of novelty to recommend it." A happy idea was, however, hit upon by Commander Hoppner, at whose suggestion a monthly bal masque was held, to the great diversion of both officers and men, to the number of 120. The popular commander entered gayly into their recreations, and thus speaks of these polar masquerades :

"It is impossible that any idea could have proved more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation Admirably dressed characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine good humor which would not have disgraced a more refined assembly; while the latter might not have been disgraced by copying the good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense of our men, that though all the officers entered fully into the spirit of these amusements, which took place once a month alternately on board of each ship, no instance occurred of any thing that could interfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men toward their superiors. Ours were mas querades without licentiousness carnivals without

Exploring parties were sent out in several directions. Commander Hoppner and his party went inland, and after a fortnight's fatiguing journey over a mountainous, barren, and desolate country, where precipitous ravines 500 feet deep obstructed their passage, traveled a degree and three-quarters to the latitude of 73° 19', but saw no appearance of sea from thence.

Lieutenant Sherer, with four men, proceeded to the southward, and made a careful survey of the coast as far as 724°, but had not provisions sufficient to go round Cape Kater, the southernmost point observed in their former voyage.

Lieutenant J. C. Ross, with a similar party, traveled to the northward, along the coast of the Inlet, and from the hills about Cape York, observed that the sea was