obliged to winter in the middle of Baffin's Bay.

The season was now too far advanced to give any hopes of the ships
being able to penetrate to the westward, according to their
instructions, during the present year; Captain Parry determined,
therefore, to push on as far as the present season would permit, and
devote the whole of the next summer to the fulfilment of the object of
the expedition.

It is not our intention to enter into a detailed description of the
many difficulties which they met in their passage; it is enough to say
that their toils were incessant, and nothing but the most unwearied
vigilance and perseverance could have prevented the ships being
materially damaged by the enormous pressure of the ice.

Both officers and men were constantly employed, one time in getting
out the boats to tow or cut through the ice, at another, at what is
termed 'sallying,' or causing the ship to roll, by the men running in
a body from side to side, so as to relieve her from the adhesion and
friction of the young ice. It sometimes happened, also, that their
labour was in vain; for during the night a westerly wind would spring
up, and that, combined with a strong current, would drive the vessels
several leagues to eastward, thus compelling them to recommence their
work over again.

On the 27th of September they found themselves in a tolerably open
sea, and assisted by a fine working breeze they reached Port Bowen, in
Regent's Inlet. Here Captain Parry determined to make his winter
harbour, being convinced that it would be safer to remain there, than
run the risk of any further attempt at navigation during the present
year.

'To those who read,' writes Sir Edward Parry, 'as well as those who
describe, the account of a winter passed in these regions can no
longer be expected to afford the interest of novelty it once
possessed; more especially in a station already delineated with
tolerable geographical precision on our maps, and thus, as it were,
brought near to our firesides at home.'

Here it may be perhaps asked, why tell a thrice-told tale?--why go
over ground that has been so often trod before? The answer is, we are
not only writing for the information of the general reader, but also
for the seaman, in the hope that these examples may afford
encouragement to him, if ever thrown under similar circumstances to
those which befel the crews of the Hecla and Fury.

In a short time, the ships became embedded in ice, and