It was only too evident that she could not long survive the critical position in which she was placed and that the only salvation lay in penetrating still farther into the ice. To this end, more sail was spread, and, with the added power, she righted herself, split a small field of ice, fourteen feet in thickness, and effected a passage for herself between the pieces. On the gale abating, both ships reached the open sea, but were greatly disabled, the _Dorothea_ in a foundering condition. In this useless state they made for Fair Haven, in Spitzbergen, where they underwent necessary repairs. Lieutenant Franklin urgently requested to be allowed to return to the interesting quest which they had been obliged to abandon, but this being impossible, owing to the shattered condition of the ships, the expedition put to sea the end of August and reached England about the middle of October, 1818. CHAPTER IV 1819-1827: Parry’s first voyage.—Object, to survey Lancaster Sound and prove the non-existence of Crocker Mountains.—Discovery of new lands.—Parry Islands.—Attains longitude 110° W., thereby winning the bounty of five thousand pounds offered by Parliament.—Winters near Melville Island.—Second voyage.—Ships _Hecla_ and _Fury_.—Examines Duke of York Bay and Frozen Strait of Middleton.—Winters off Lyon Inlet.—Sledge journeys.—Object, to make Northwest Passage _via_ Prince Regent Inlet.—Reached Port Bowen.—Ten months’ imprisonment.—Destruction of the _Fury_.—Hasty return to England. Fourth voyage.—Purpose to reach the Pole _via_ Spitzbergen with sledge boats over ice.—_Hecla_ as transport.—Parry’s farthest, 82° 45´ N., reached June 23, 1827. [Sidenote: _PARRY’S FIRST VOYAGE_] The principal object of Lieutenant W. E. Parry’s first voyage under the direction of the British Admiralty was to pursue the survey of Lancaster Sound, so abruptly discontinued by Captain Ross the previous year, and decide the probability of a northwest passage in that direction, thus settling the much-disputed question of the existence of the “Crocker Mountains,” which Parry, who had accompanied Ross, declared from the first to have been an ocular illusion. Should Lancaster Sound not prove navigable, Smith and Jones sounds were to be explored. The _Hecla_, 375 tons, and the _Griper_, 180 tons, were strengthened and provisioned for two years. Sailing from the Thames May 11, 1819, they reached Davis Strait the last week in June, and here experienced a good deal of annoyance from ice, through which they made a slow and difficult passage by heaving and warping, reaching Possession Bay a month later. Upon landing the men were not a little surprised to see their own footprints of the previous year; a fox, a raven, some ring flowers, and snow-buntings were seen, also a bee. Tufts and ground plants grew in considerable abundance wherever there was moisture.