n if it was open, not having arrived there until
October 1st, when danger from the ice obliged him to quit the coast.
Lieutenant Parry, who had accompanied Captain Ross, was sent, in
conjunction with Captain Lyon, in the year 1819, on a second voyage
into Baffin's Bay, and having penetrated as far as to gain the first
prize offered by Parliament (L5000) and having made the most western
point ever reached in the Polar seas, he was entrusted with the
direction of the Hecla and Fury, on a similar expedition in 1821.
These ships returned in October 1823, without achieving the principal
object for which they were dispatched. In 1824 Parry and Lyon were
again sent out for the discovery of a north-west passage, in the Hecla
and Fury. After wintering in Prince Regent's Bay, the ships sailed
southwardly, and, in consequence of storms and icebergs, it became
necessary to abandon the Fury, and with her crew on board the Hecla,
Captain Parry returned to England in October 1825. The Admiralty sent
Parry, in the Hecla, in 1827, to reach, if possible, the North Pole.
Having journeyed thirty-five days over the ice, beginning at 81 deg.
12 min. 15 sec. he was compelled to retrace his course. So far the
exertions of the British Government.

Piqued by the real, or supposed neglect of government, Captain Ross,
in the spring of 1829, undertook an expedition on his own resources,
with the view of effecting a passage into the Polar Sea, and to reach
Behring's Straits along the northern coast of the American continent.
The ship--the Victory--was lost in the first year out, and Ross and
his crew had worn through the remaining time on board the wreck of the
Fury. When picked up in Lancaster Sound, they were in four of the
Fury's boats, which they had "found uninjured, and in the same
condition in which they had been left."

The following letter, addressed by the gallant Navigator to the
Admiralty, puts us in possession of all the adventures and discoveries
of this memorable expedition.

On board the Isabella, of Hull, }
Baffin's Bay, Sept. 1833. }

Sir,--Knowing how deeply my Lords Commissioners, of the Admiralty are
interested in the advancement of nautical knowledge, and particularly
in the improvement of geography, I have to acquaint you, for the
information of their Lordships, that the expedition, the main object
of which is to solve, if possible, the question of a north-west
passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean,