PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE
Parry had left England the preceding April in an attempt to reach the
North Pole by means of sledges over the ice. To this end he had sailed
to Spitzbergen in his old ship the _Hecla_, many of his old shipmates
sailing with him. They arrived off the coast of Spitzbergen about the
middle of May 1827. Two boats had been specially built in England,
covered with waterproof canvas and lined with felt. The _Enterprise_
and _Endeavour_ had bamboo masts and paddles, and were constructed
to go on sledges, drawn by reindeer, over the ice.
"Nothing," says Parry, "can be more beautiful than the training of
the Lapland reindeer. With a simple collar of skin round his neck,
a single trace of the same material attached to the sledge and passing
between his legs, and one rein fastened like a halter round his neck,
this intelligent and docile animal is perfectly under the command of
an experienced driver, and performs astonishing journeys over the
softest snow. Shaking the rein over his back is the only whip that
is required."
Leaving the _Hecla_ in safe harbour on the Spitzbergen coast, Parry
and James Ross, a nephew of John Ross, the explorer, with food for
two months, started off in their two boat-sledges for the north. They
made a good start; the weather was calm and clear, the sea smooth as
a mirror--walruses lay in herds on the ice, and, steering due north,
they made good progress.
Next day, however, they were stopped by ice. Instead of finding a smooth,
level plain over which the reindeer could draw their sledges with ease,
they found broken, rugged, uneven ice, which nothing but the keen
enthusiasm of the explorer could have faced. The reindeer were useless,
and they had to be relinquished; it is always supposed that they were
eaten, but history is silent on this point. The little party had to
drag their own boats over the rough ice. They travelled by night to
save snow-blindness, also that they could enjoy greater warmth during
the hours of sleep by day.
[Illustration: THE BOATS OF PARRY'S EXPEDITION HAULED UP ON THE ICE
FOR THE NIGHT. From a drawing in Parry's _Attempt to Reach the North
Pole_, 1828.]
Parry describes the laborious journey: "Being 'rigged' for
travelling," he says, "we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit,
and after stowing the things in the boats we set off on our day's journey,
and usually travelled about five and a half hours, then stopped an
hour to dine, and again travelled five or six hours. After this we
halted for the night as we called it, though it was usually early in
the morning, selecting the largest surface of ice we happened to be
near for hauling the boats on. The boats were placed close alongside
each other, and the sails supported by bamboo masts placed over them
as awnings. Every man then put on dry socks and fur boots and went
to supper. Most of the officers and men then smoked their pipes, which
served to dry the awnings. We then concluded our day with prayers and,
having put on our fur dresses, lay down to sleep," alone in the great
ice desert. Progress was slow and very tedious. One day it took them
four hours to cover half a mile. On 1st July they were still labouring
forward; a foot of soft snow on the ground made travelling very
exhausting. Some of the hummocks of ice were as much as twenty-five
feet above sea-level; nothing was to be seen but ice and sky, both
often hidden by dense fog. Still the explorers pushed on, Parry and
Ross leading the way and the men dragging the boat-sledges after. July
12th was a brilliant day, with clear sky overhead--"an absolute
luxury." For another fortnight they persevered, and on 23rd July they
reached their farthest point north. It was a warm, pleasant day, with
the thermometer at thirty-six in the shade; they were a hundred and
seventy-two miles from Spitzbergen, where the _Hecla_ lay at anchor.
"Our ensigns and pendants were displayed during the day, and severely
as we regretted not having been able to hoist the British flag in the
highest latitude to which we had aspired, we shall perhaps be excused
in having felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallel
considerably beyond that mentioned in any other well-authenticated
record." On 27th July they reluctantly turned to the south, and on
21st August they arrived on board the _Hecla_ after an absence of
sixty-one days, every one of the party being in good health. Soon after
they sailed for England, and by a strange coincidence arrived in London
at the same time as Franklin.
Many an attempt was yet to be made to reach the North Pole, till at
last it was discovered by Peary, an American, in 1909.