Free Resolute by Martin W. Sandler Page B

until the first week of July before the ships were freed from the ice. Immediately he set sail for the strait that the Inuit assured him was there. And within two months he found it, naming it the Fury and Hecla Strait. But, to his dismay, he also discovered that huge ice floes made it impassable. Leaving the ship, he explored the area on foot, and from a high vantage point spotted the open body of water to the west.
    But it was miles away, his passage was blocked, and winter was setting in. He had no choice but to put into a harbor at Igloolik Island and make preparations for another long stay in the ice. Even for the always-optimistic Parry it was almost too much. “It required but a single glance at the chart,” he confided to his journal, “that whatever the last summer’s navigation has added to our knowledge of the eastern coast of America, and its adjacent lands, very little had, in reality been effected in furtherance of the North-West Passage. Even the actual discovery of the outlet into the Polar Sea, had been of no benefit in the prosecution of our enterprise; for we had only discovered this channel to find it impassable, and to see the barriers of nature impenetrably closed against us to the utmost limit of the navigable season.”
    At this point, both ships were running short of supplies. And there was an even more serious problem. Nine of the
Fury’s
crewmen were suffering from scurvy. (Scurvy had plagued sailors since the 1500s; see note, page 260). One of the officers aboard the
Hecla
had died from the affliction. Parry ordered Lyon to sail his vessel back to England as soon as the ice broke up. Once he was free from the ice, Parry would make one last try at penetrating the Fury and Hecla Strait. But this final attempt proved as futile as the first. The strait was still blocked and a disappointed Parry headed for home.
    His second voyage had not been without its accomplishments. He had learned much about the Inuit and their ways. And once again he had discovered a promising channel that might be a gateway to the passage. But once again, the hopes he shares with Barrow for a quick discovery had been dashed. He arrived back in England in the second week of October 1823, only to discover that Franklin had returned from his overland trek a year earlier to even greater acclaim than he himself had received after his first passage-seeking voyage. For the proud Parry, it was almost as big a disappointment as not having found the passage.
    It did not take long for the disappointment to turn into renewed hope. While he had been away, Parry had been promoted to the rank of captain. He had also been appointed acting hydrographer of the Admiralty. But he had accepted this position only on the condition that it would not preclude his being given the opportunity to make yet another attempt to find the passage. He soon got his chance. In January 1824, he was again given command of the
Hecla
and the
Fury.
This time his orders were to sail through Lancaster Sound, proceed down Prince Regent Inlet, and then search for the pathway to the passage along the northern coast of North America.
    But this time there would be no promising beginning to the voyage. Arriving at Baffin Bay on the way to Lancaster Sound, Parry found the ice so thick that he fell weeks behind schedule. Once in the sound, he was forced to battle winds so fierce that they actually drove his ships backwards at times. Through sheer determination and no small amount of navigational skill, the expedition was finally able to reach Port Bowen on the east coast of Prince Regent Inlet. But by this time Parry’s old nemesis winter had once again set in. For the third time in less than five years he was forced to make his home in the ice.
    Bigger troubles lay ahead. In July 1825, when they were once again able to get underway, Parry decided to sail across to the other side of the wide inlet, hoping to find yet another new passageway to the west.