Sir Edward Parry was one of the greatest of Arctic discoverers. Without an equal as an organiser and administrator, unsurpassed as a leader of men, he was an accomplished officer and a bold and resolute navigator, knowing when to take risks and when to avoid them. Parry was a very perfect sailor, thoroughly well read in all that concerned his enterprises, thoughtful and levelheaded. While promoting hilarity and good-fellowship, he was, through life, deeply yet unostentatiously religious. He was the beau ideal of an Arctic officer.
Parry was the son of a physician at Bath, where he went to school. As a boy he was tall and athletic, very popular, with a good ear for music, a talent for acting, and a habit of doing all he had to do with all his might. Miss Cornwallis, a friend of the family and a near relation of the Admiral then in command of the fleet blockading Brest, obtained an appointment for him. Young Parry could not have entered the service under better auspices. He continued to serve in the Channel, Baltic, and North Sea, always fortunate with his captains and winning their regard, until he attained the rank of Lieutenant.
His next service was on the coast of Scotland, and one season his ship was employed to protect the returning whalers, when he made his first acquaintance with pack ice. In these days Parry was devoted to the study of navigation and surveying. He made several useful surveys of harbours in Scotland, which his captain sent to the Hydrographer, and he wrote a little book on nautical astronomy for the use of young officers which his father caused to be printed. It contained useful directions for finding stars in the northern hemisphere.
In 1813 he served on the North American station, and was engaged in an important and very dangerous boat action up the Connecticut river, when between 40 and 50 privateers and letters-of-marque vessels were burnt. On this station Parry formed a life-long friendship with Charles Martyn, the Admiral’s secretary, who was about the same age, but died young in 1825.
After the peace Parry was anxious to be employed in an exploring expedition. He had been much interested in African discovery, and had read the narrative of Clapperton with deep interest. He therefore volunteered for Tuckey’s Congo expedition, but could not get back in time to join it. His letter and his little book on nautical astronomy were shown to Sir John Barrow, who was so pleased with them that he recommended Parry, whose age was then 28, for the command of the Alexander in Ross’s expedition. He then had had 15 years of service, and had necessarily acquired a considerable knowledge of ice navigation during Ross’s re-discovery of Baffin’s Bay.
The Lords of the Admiralty, as we have seen, were not satisfied with Captain Ross’s report. It was thought that there should have been a closer examination of the sounds at the head of Baffin’s Bay, and accordingly it was resolved that another expedition should be despatched to discover whether Lancaster Sound opened on to a channel leading to Bering Strait. Lieut. Parry received the command of the expedition, and nearly all the officers and men who had served in the Buchan and Ross expeditions volunteered to go with him. They were to receive double pay.
The memorable success of this expedition was perhaps due to the youthfulness of the officers. The oldest was Captain Sabine, R.E., the astronomer, who was 30. Beechey, Parry’s first Lieutenant, the accomplished artist and writer of the Trent, was 23. The other Lieutenant, Hoppner from the Alexander, was about the same age. The remaining executive officers were eight young midshipmen aged from 17 to 19, three rather more.
Two vessels were selected. The Hecla was a very strong bomb vessel of 375 tons, built at Hull in 1815. Her consort was a slow-sailing old gun brig, the Griper of 130 tons, with a deck of 6 feet raised upon her, to increase stowage. Lieut. Liddon commanded her. Both were barque rigged, the object being to restrict the number of men working the vessels. Stores and provisions were got on board for three years115. The main objects of the expedition were the advancement of the knowledge of geography and navigation, as well as of science generally.
On the 21st of July, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were off Sanderson’s Hope, when Parry counted 88 icebergs from the crow’s-nest. He boldly determined not to creep northwards along the land floe of Melville Bay, but to force a passage through the middle pack direct for Lancaster Sound. An older man would have hesitated. But there is no great success without risks, and young men take them. The ice was only 80 miles wide in that most favourable year, and Parry was at the entrance of Lancaster Sound by the 28th July.
It would be difficult to imagine a more exhilarating moment than that when the Croker mountains were found to have no existence and the wide channel was discovered, leading into an unknown region. The lofty cliffs, with their scored sides like pillars and buttresses, form a grand portal to the unknown, as Dr Fisher described them, “like an immense wall in ruins, rising almost perpendicular from the sea.” There was a fresh breeze, and the Hecla ran quickly up the channel, with mast-heads and rigging crowded with officers and men eagerly looking westward.
Then there was some ice obstructing a westward course, but a wide channel opened to the south. Parry sailed down it for 150 miles, giving it the name of the Prince Regent, while the western land was called North Somerset, after Parry’s own county. A strong ice-blink across the channel induced him to turn north again into the westward channel. Then a wide open channel was discovered to the north and received the name of Wellington, but that was not the way. Westward Ho! was the cry, with new discoveries and new islands in every watch: Cornwallis Island, named after Parry’s first naval patron; Cape Hotham after one of the Lords who signed his instructions; Griffith Island after Admiral Griffith, who was first Lieutenant of the Culloden at the battle of St Vincent. On into the unknown sailed the Hecla and Griper. Upwards of 20 islands were discovered and named, the group collectively being called the North Georgian Islands. Pressing westward no landing was effected until an island was reached which was honoured with the name of the Comptroller, Sir Thomas Byam Martin. A more promising land was found, within sight of Melville Island, the Arctic paradise. Without knowing it Parry had passed the barren limestone isles, and his first landing was on the more promising carboniferous region.
Sailing along the south coast of Melville Island, so named after the First Lord of the Admiralty, the expedition crossed the 110th meridian and thus became entitled to the bounty of £5000. In September the young ice was forming fast, and the Hecla and Griper were brought into snug quarters by sawing a long channel through the ice. The top-gallant and topmasts were sent down, all but the maintopmast which was left as a guide to returning sportsmen, and waggon-cloth housings were rigged over the upper decks.
One of Parry’s greatest merits as an Arctic explorer was his success in bringing officers and men through the long winter in good health. This was due to his forethought, power of organisation, genial disposition, and warm sympathy for all who served with him. He had prepared for a winter before leaving England. The closest attention was given to the prevention of damp between decks by means of hot air from the Sylvester stove. Good bread was baked, beer was brewed, and rules were enforced respecting diet, clothing, and above all sufficient daily exercise. Parry wisely realised the equal importance of exercising the minds of his people. A school was opened to teach reading and writing, accomplishments which were not so general in those days as they are now. A newspaper, edited by Captain Sabine, and entitled the North Georgian Gazette, kept the officers amused, and they, in their turn, devoted themselves to the amusement of the men. Parry was himself a good musician, playing on the violin, and a capital actor. A theatre was erected on the upper deck in spite of the intense cold, and the farces popular in those days were performed by the officers, with songs between the acts. An operetta entitled the “North-West Passage” was also composed by Parry and acted with great applause. By these various means, and by giving the closest attention to every detail, the first modern Arctic winter was a splendid success. The gunner had slight symptoms of scurvy which were soon removed, and one man died of some other disease, but all the rest emerged from the winter in perfect health.
On the approach of summer Parry resolved to equip an expedition to explore the interior of Melville Island. The party was to consist of himself as leader, Captain Sabine, R.E., Dr Fisher, two midshipmen named Nias and Reid, two serjeants of marines, two privates, and two seamen. Tents were taken, consisting of blankets passed over a ridge rope, supported by two boarding pikes. Provisions were loaded on a cart made of boards and the wheels of a field-piece. There were three weeks’ provisions, and the diet per man per day—which was insufficient—was: 1 lb. biscuit, ⅔ lb. of preserved meat, 1 oz. salep powder, 1 oz. sugar, and half a pint of rum. Besides dragging the cart with 800 lb. of provisions and tents, officers and men carried spare clothing and sleeping-bags on their backs as knapsacks, 17 to 20 lb. each. Small faggots of firewood were also taken.
The party reached the northern coast of Melville Island, and some land seen to the north-east and supposed to be an island was named after Captain Sabine. In returning, Parry kept more to the westward, towards a range always in sight which the party called the Blue Mountains. In an Arctic June the climate is not severe, and they travelled at night, sleeping in the comparative warmth of the day. As the party approached the southern coast, or rather the deep gulf on the south side of Melville Island afterwards called Liddon’s Gulf, they entered a deep ravine. The scenery was grand and imposing. In the steepest part the axle-tree of the cart split in two. It was impossible to repair it, so it was left, the wood of the cart being used to make a good fire to cook their ptarmigan.
Two reindeer were also shot, and musk oxen, hares, ducks, and brent geese were seen. The ravine of the broken cart was called “Bushnan’s Cove.” Parry described it as “one of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we have seen in the Arctic regions.” Mosses, dwarf willows, saxifrages, and ranunculi were found growing. Owing to the breakdown of the cart, the loads that each man had to carry on the return march to the ships were from 60 to 70 lb. On the 15th of June the ships were reached after an absence of a fortnight. The details of this journey are specially interesting because it was the first naval Arctic travelling of modern times.
Until the ships could be got out of their winter prison, shooting parties were sent in various directions for fresh food, and 3766 lb. were obtained, consisting of 3 musk oxen, 24 deer, 68 hares, 53 brent geese, 59 ducks, and 144 ptarmigan. An inscription was carved on a huge block of sandstone 12 feet high and 22 feet long by Dr Fisher. It will for centuries commemorate the wintering of Parry’s Arctic expedition in Melville Island.
When the ships got free of the ice, Parry again shaped a course to the west as far as Cape Dundas, meeting with large, heavy, and extensive fields of ice, which were quite impenetrable. This was the heavy ice-flow from the polar ocean which finally impinges on the north-west coast of King William Island. Nothing more could be done, and Parry resolved to return home, surveying the west coast of Baffin’s Bay to 68° 15′. The exploring ships arrived at Peterhead on the 29th of October, and were paid off at Deptford on December 21st, 1820, all in excellent health.
This is one of the most memorable of all the Arctic voyages. It practically settled the question of a connection between the two oceans. Great discoveries were made, and important scientific observations were recorded. An Arctic winter was faced with preservation of health and Arctic travelling was commenced. Men of science as well as sailors received excellent training. This was the only expedition which has produced a President of the Royal Society and a President of the Royal Geographical Society. Besides the training of Arctic officers who continued in that branch of the service, Parry’s first voyage brought out qualities which shone forth in after years at the battle of Navarino and in the first China war116.
The Arctic discoverers were received with enthusiasm by their countrymen, and the authorities justly placed the greatest reliance on the skill and judgment of Parry, who was promoted to the rank of Commander.
Captain Parry thought quite correctly that a passage could not be forced by a sailing vessel on the parallel of the south coast of Melville Island. His conclusion was that it could only be effected along the north coast of North America, in which again he was quite right. But at that time only the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine were discovered, and the distribution of land and water to the north of America was known to be excessively complicated. Parry advised that the next attempt should be by way of Hudson’s Bay.
The Admiralty accordingly resolved to despatch Parry on a second Arctic voyage. He was to investigate and settle doubtful questions about Middleton’s Frozen Strait and Repulse Bay, and then to get hold of the north-west corner of North America, and if possible to follow that coast to Bering Strait. The Griper was too small, a bad sailer, and ill adapted for the work. The great point was to select two vessels with equal sailing qualities and of equal size. Two bomb vessels were therefore commissioned, the Fury of 377 tons by Captain Parry and the Hecla by Captain G. F. Lyon, with Hoppner as his first Lieutenant. The other Lieutenants were three of Parry’s midshipmen in the Hecla, Nias, Reid, and Palmer. Bushnan117 was Assistant Surveyor; James Ross, still a midshipman, was in every voyage. Three new midshipmen who were afterwards distinguished as Arctic men appear for the first time in the second voyage, Sherer, Crozier, and Bird118.
Dr Fisher, who had published his journal of the first voyage, also joined the expedition, as well as Mr Hooper, the purser, who had been in the Alexander and Hecla, a genial person who took five characters in the theatricals at Winter Harbour119. The Rev. George Fisher120 took Captain Sabine’s place as astronomer. Captain Lyon was an officer of varied accomplishments, a capable traveller, a good writer, and an excellent artist.
Several improvements were made in the arrangements. The Sylvester stove, an excellent invention, was better placed, and supplied more constant currents of warm air. A tank was fitted over the galley fire for melting snow. Hammocks were substituted for standing bed-places for the men, and the allowance of Gamble’s preserved meat and soup was increased. Greater economy in stowage was secured by having the spirits above proof; and more flour for baking bread was supplied instead of biscuit. The expedition sailed in May, 1821121.
In passing through Hudson’s Strait it is pleasant to find how warmly Parry appreciated the merits of his great predecessor Baffin as a navigator and observer. An island was named after him near his farthest point on Southampton Island.
Parry had to choose whether he would reach Repulse Bay by Sir Thomas Roe’s Welcome or by Frozen Strait. Dobbs had declared that Frozen Strait did not exist, but Parry preferred the evidence of Captain Middleton to that of his malignant critic, and resolved to proceed up Fox Channel and along the eastern side of Southampton Island. It was very difficult navigation, but Parry was a consummate ice navigator, and he succeeded in reaching and passing through the Frozen Strait of Middleton, and in examining Repulse Bay. Thus the first part of his instructions was complied with.
The next duty was to examine the coast to the northward until an opening was reached. This was done with great care until the winter set in; every inlet, some of considerable depth, being surveyed in the boats. Winter quarters were found under the shelter of an island, and the same routine was established as at Melville Island. The theatre was rigged in much greater splendour, dresses had been supplied, and there were performances once a fortnight. The most successful night was when the “Rivals” of Sheridan was acted by the whole strength of the company. Captain Lyon, as Captain Absolute in the “Rivals,” went through the last act with two fingers frost-bitten.
Eskimo parties visited the ships during the winter, and received much assistance in food. One of the women was a very intelligent draughtsman, and showed Parry by the use of her pencil not only a strait to the north, but also that he was on the eastern side of a great peninsula. It received the name of Melville Peninsula.
On the 2nd of July the ships were extricated from their winter quarters by sawing a long passage through the ice, and on the 12th a fine fresh-water river was discovered, with a magnificent waterfall 100 feet in height. Rich vegetation clothed its banks, and reindeer were seen browsing with their fawns. It received the name of the Secretary to the Admiralty, Sir John Barrow.
In August the long-looked-for opening was at length discovered. It was found to be a strait, about two miles in width, but loaded with ice. It was named Fury and Hecla Strait. The ships forced their way into it for some distance, but the main body of ice was firm, and young ice was forming. After beating about for several days in a heavy pack, they at length reached their second winter quarters at the island of Igloolik, near the entrance to the strait, where they found a colony of Eskimo. Many of them were old friends at Winter Island. The habits and customs of these natives were carefully studied, and an extensive vocabulary was made of their language.
After leaving Igloolik in the middle of August, 1823, the wind fell, the ships were beset, and drifted down Fox Channel in constant danger. At length they were liberated in Hudson’s Strait and returned to England. Besides the geographical discoveries and the studies of Eskimo life, the scientific results of Parry’s second voyage were published in a special volume, and Captain Lyon also published his narrative of the voyage. Parry was promoted to the rank of Post Captain.
Parry’s discoveries led to the conclusion that an eastern portion of the polar sea was at no great distance from Repulse Bay, and could be reached by crossing the Melville Peninsula to the gulf called Akuli by the Eskimo. It was considered a point of great interest to trace the coast as far as the mouth of the Coppermine river. For this purpose the Colonial Secretary, Lord Bathurst, decided to employ Captain Lyon without loss of time, and the Admiralty supplied the Griper, a little vessel very ill adapted for such service, to take him to Repulse Bay, where he was to winter and begin his journey in the spring of 1825.
Captain Lyon left England on the 19th June, 1824, and after passing through Hudson Strait, endeavoured to reach Repulse Bay by way of Sir Thomas Roe’s Welcome. He was most unfortunate. There was thick weather on the 1st September and the water rapidly shoaled, so Captain Lyon came to with two bowers and a stream anchor. There was a tremendous sea running and the ship was pitching bows under. It was high tide, the fall 12 to 15 feet, so that at low water the total destruction of the ship seemed inevitable. The long boat was got ready, and at dawn a low beach was seen on which a terrific surf was running. At six the ship was lifted by a tremendous sea, and struck the ground with great violence along the whole length of the keel. Lyon thought this was the forerunner of her total wreck. All hope of saving her was gone. It is impossible to read Lyon’s narrative, describing the magnificent behaviour of all his men, without feelings of admiration and pride. At 6 p.m. the rudder rose, and broke up the after lockers. Then the pressure ceased, and in the morning the anchors were weighed and the ship was saved.
In a few days thick weather, with heavy seas, came on again. Lyon let go both bowers and the sheet anchor; the seas swept them fore and aft, while streams of heavy ice kept driving down upon the ship. The wind increased to a hurricane and all the cables parted. The trysails were set, but the fore trysail gaff went and could not be lowered, every rope being encrusted with a thick coating of ice. They were still 80 miles from Repulse Bay, with no hope of ever reaching it, and accordingly Captain Lyon reluctantly decided on returning to England. He bore up with a sad heart on the 15th September. Yet such a grand story of the pluck and endurance of British seamen so admirably told is worth much more than the journey from Repulse Bay to Cape Turnagain, if it could have been accomplished. Captain Lyon, so enthusiastic, so dauntless, so able and so beloved, is one of the greatest ornaments of polar history122.
Parry thought that Fury and Hecla Strait opened upon a sea which communicated with Prince Regent’s Inlet, and here again he was right. His idea was in a third voyage to take that route, and there was a prospect of co-operation. Franklin was again exploring the northern coast, while Captain Beechey, Parry’s old first Lieutenant, was conducting a scientific voyage in H.M.S. Blossom in the direction of Bering Strait, and extending discovery from the Icy Cape of Captain Cook to Cape Barrow.
At that period there was no lack of enthusiasm, and expedition followed on expedition in rapid succession. The Hecla was commissioned by Captain Parry, and the Fury by his old and faithful comrade in all his northern voyages, Captain Hoppner, on January 17th, 1824. Of Parry’s old shipmates in former voyages, besides Hoppner, there were Sherer and James Ross, now Lieutenants; Crozier and Bird, still midshipmen; and Mr Hooper, the purser. The most distinguished of the new officers were Lieut. Foster, the Assistant Surveyor123, and Horatio T. Austin, first Lieutenant of the Fury.
The Arctic ships were accompanied by a transport which filled them up at the Whale Fish Islands in Disco Bay. Here, on one of the smallest islets, the observatory was set up, and Lieut. Foster set to work with his magnetic instruments. Captain Parry and Hoppner went in a boat to the Danish settlement of Lievely on Disco Island, where they made the acquaintance of Lieut. Graah, the explorer of East Greenland.
On reaching the ice, Parry again resolved to attempt the middle pack, but this time he was doomed to disappointment. The ice was closely packed, and for upwards of 40 days they were battling with it. At length they reached Lancaster Sound, but it was late in September before they entered Prince Regent’s Inlet. Parry resolved to take up winter quarters on the east side, in Port Bowen, which he had discovered in 1819.
As at Melville Island there was a very well attended school under the superintendence of Mr Hooper, the Purser, and Captain Parry was convinced that to the moral effect it produced on the minds of the men were owing their cheerfulness, good order, and in some measure the excellent state of health which prevailed through the winter. At Captain Hoppner’s suggestion there was a change in the amusements. Masquerades were substituted for theatricals and with great success. In the spring there were some travelling parties. Captain Hoppner got over some very difficult country inland, Ross and Sherer went north and south. But the great event was the capture of a “payable” whale by these two redoubtable young Arctics, who had also achieved a similar success during Parry’s second voyage.
On the 20th of July the ships were released from their winter quarters and, standing over to the west side, began to shape a course to the south. Then the ice in the centre of the channel approached the land, and drove both ships on shore. They were got off, but the Fury was seriously damaged, officers and men being nearly exhausted by their efforts to keep her afloat. On the 21st August she was once more driven on to a stony beach under a very lofty perpendicular cliff, and hopelessly stranded. The hold was full of water. The greater part of her stores were landed and she was abandoned, officers and men being taken on board the Hecla. The Hecla reached Peterhead on the 12th of October, 1825, all hands in excellent health.
For a time Parry’s Arctic work was laid aside, and on the 23rd of October, 1826, he was married to Isabella, daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley. Meanwhile his proposal to attempt an approach to the Pole by way of Spitsbergen was under the consideration of the Admiralty. The idea was to make the attempt in boats, which might be hauled over intervening ice. The Admiralty approved, and the Hecla was ordered to be commissioned again, Mrs Parry hoisting the pennant, to the delight of all the old Arctics at Deptford. At this time Parry was also filling the office of Hydrographer at the Admiralty. His hands were pretty full.
The officers of the Hecla were Lieutenants James C. Ross, Crozier, and Foster, Assistant Surgeon Beverley, and Mr Halse the purser, who had served in all Parry’s expeditions.
The Hecla rounded Hakluyt Headland and reached the high latitude of 81° 5′ N. on June 14th, 1827. Parry then placed the ship in a good harbour called Hecla Cove, on the north coast of Spitsbergen, in 79° 55′ N. and 16° 53′ E. Crozier was left in command, and Foster was fully occupied with his scientific observations. The two boats, called the Enterprise and Endeavour, left Hecla Cove on the 21st of June, Parry and Dr Beverley being in the first, James Ross and Bird in the second, with ten seamen and two marines in each. The boats were flat-bottomed, 20 feet long, with an extreme width of 7 feet carried well fore and aft. Their timbers were of tough oak and hickory. On the outside of the frame a new system of planking was adopted, in order to secure elasticity in the frequent concussions with the ice. It consisted first of a covering of waterproof canvas coated with tar, then a thin fir plank, then a sheet of felt, and lastly a thin oak plank, all secured to the timbers by screws. On each side of the keel there was a strong runner shod with metal, on which the boat rested when on the ice. A hide span across the fore part of the runners had two horsehair drag-ropes attached to it. The boats had two thwarts, a locker at each end, and a light framework along the sides for provisions and spare clothing; they carried a bamboo mast and tanned duck sail, 14 paddles, and a steer oar. They started with 71 days’ provisions. The weight of each boat was 1539 lb., when loaded 3753 lb., or 268 lb. per man, besides four light sledges weighing 26 lb. each. The daily allowance for each man was 10 oz. of biscuit, 9 oz. of pemmican, 1 oz. of cocoa, and a gill of rum. They slept in the boats and travelled at night.
When they started the weather was calm and clear, and as they paddled past the Seven Islands with loose sailing ice ahead the prospect looked very favourable. But on the 23rd they came to the close pack and hauled the boats up on the ice in 81° 12′ 5″ N. The travelling work then began and was most laborious and disheartening. The floes were of small extent intersected by high ridges of hummocks, necessitating constant launching and hauling up of the boats. The snow was soft, and there were pools of water knee-deep on the floes. It was not until July 7th that they reached a level floe, and on the 11th ridges of hummocks 30 and 40 feet high were again encountered. On the 22nd they at length came to large floes some miles in extent, but it was too late. The southerly drift of the ice was increasing to such an extent that they lost by drift as much as they gained by many hours of laborious and fatiguing work at the drag-ropes. Parry at length determined to retrace his steps. His highest latitude was 82° 45′, the highest that anyone attained for the next half-century. They were 172 miles from the Hecla, having travelled over 292 miles of ground—200 by water before reaching the ice and 92 over the floes.
After an absence of 61 days the boats reached Hecla Cove on the 21st August, and the ship arrived in the Thames on the 6th of October, 1827. If Parry had wintered in Hecla Cove and started in February he would have probably reached a much higher latitude. But success was not possible owing to the southerly drift of the polar ice. The weight of 264 lb. per man was much too great to drag for a lengthened period, and the daily allowance of food was too small. Experience would have corrected these details, and Sir Edward Parry, it should be remembered, was the pioneer of Arctic travelling without the mistakes of others to guide him.
Parry returned to his work as Hydrographer. Of his companions, James Ross, Crozier, and Bird afterwards won renown as Antarctic discoverers.
Parry was knighted on the 29th of April, 1829. Although his Arctic work was over, he was hard at work and in harness for the rest of his life. In 1829 he was offered the difficult post of Agent to the Australian Agricultural Company. Its affairs had been neglected and mismanaged, and the Directors turned to Parry, as a most able organiser, to restore their affairs to a proper footing. He was appointed Commissioner to the Agricultural Company in New South Wales, receiving also the D.C.L. at Oxford. He held the appointment for several years, returning to England in June, 1834. In 1839 he organised the Holyhead Packet Service, and in the same year became Comptroller of Steam Machinery. During Parry’s time as Comptroller an immense advance was made in the use of steam, and it was due to his strong advocacy that the screw propeller was adopted for naval ships. In 1846 he was appointed Captain Superintendent of Haslar Hospital and Clarence Yard, a position which he occupied for five years, retiring in 1851.
Sir Edward took the warmest interest in the searches for his intimate and dear friend Franklin. His visit to the Assistance at Greenhithe was ever a sacred memory to us all. In 1853 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, and began to reside in January, 1854. He died at Ems on the 8th of July, 1855, and was buried at Greenwich.
Sir Edward Parry, as we have said, must be ranked as one of the greatest of polar explorers. No one else had so many and such great qualifications. His life was wholly devoted first to his country and next to the good of his fellow men. It has been the privilege of few men to have done so much good in his generation. His life story has been beautifully told by his son, and should be read by all.