numbers of the men had perished. During his long and protracted voyage
he lost none by scurvy, and very few from any other disease.

The nation, grateful to him, bestowed a pension of two hundred pounds a
year on his wife, and each of his children had twenty-five pounds a year
settled on them, though the latter did not live long to enjoy it. Three
died in infancy. Another, a midshipman, was lost on board the
_Thunderer_. The second, intended for the ministry, died at Oxford, in
the seventeenth year of his age; and the eldest, who became a commander,
was drowned while attempting to get on board his ship off Poole during a
gale of wind. His widow survived until the year 1835, when, she died at
the age of ninety-three.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

PARRY'S THREE VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE--A.D. 1819.

Ancient voyagers in arctic seas--Parry's voyage in command of the
_Alexander_--Under Captain John Ross--Parry's first expedition with the
_Hecla_ and _Griper_--The ice reached--Danger among icebergs--The
vessels freed--Steer westward--A way cut through the ice--Enter
Lancaster Sound--Sail up it till stopped by the ice--Reach longitude 110
degrees west--A passage cut through the ice into a harbour in Melville
Island--Preparations for passing the winter--A paper established--Plays
acted--An observatory and house built on shore--The former catches
fire--Many of the men frost-bitten while extinguishing the flames--All
animals quit the country--Scurvy appears--Mustard and cress grown--
Employments of officers and men--Excursions on shore--Ice begins to
break up--Get out of harbour--Attempt to sail westward defeated--
Return--Parry's second expedition with _Fury_ and _Hecla_ in 1821 to
Hudson's Bay--Dangers among icebergs and floes--Visited by Esquimaux--
Fox's Channel and Repulse Bay reached--Further explorations made--No
opening found--More natives appear--Ships frozen in near Lyon Inlet--
Plays acted--A school established--Natives come on board--Native
village--Honesty and intelligence of natives--A clever woman--Iliglink
and her son--The Esquimaux leave them--Ships again put to sea--In
fearful danger--Fury and Hecla Strait reached--Attempt to pass through
it--Go into winter quarters--Natives appear--Winter less pleasantly
spent than the former--Great difficulty in escaping--Parry's wish to
remain overruled--Ships swept along by the current--Sail homewards--
Reception at Lerwick--Parry's third voyage in the