This expedition having proved the impracticability of a passage through the western extremity of Melville Island or by way of Fury and Hecla Strait, it was hoped that a passage might be accomplished through Prince Regent Inlet. For this purpose, Captain Parry was again fitted out in the _Hecla_ and in the accidental absence of Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Hoppner was put in command of the _Fury_. The expedition sailed from Northfleet on the 19th of May, 1824, and entered Davis Strait about the middle of June. Lancaster Sound was not reached until September 10, and Port Bowen was made their winter quarters. After ten months’ imprisonment, the ships were once more free, but, later overtaken by gales, both ships sustained serious damage. Drift ice caught them and threatened immediate destruction. The _Fury_ was thrown on shore and seriously damaged. Later it was found necessary to abandon her. The _Hecla_, now overcrowded by the provisions and crew of the _Fury_, could no longer pursue her course and was forced to return to England. Bitter as was his disappointment, Parry clung to the idea that a northwest passage would some day be accomplished, and to this end he wrote:— “I feel confident that the undertaking, if it be deemed advisable at any future time to pursue it, will one day or other be accomplished; for setting aside the accidents to which, from their very nature, such attempts must be liable, as well as other unfavorable circumstances which human foresight can never guard against, or human power control, I cannot but believe it to be an enterprise of practicability. It may be tried often and fail, for several favorable and fortunate circumstances must be combined for its accomplishment: but I believe, nevertheless, that it will ultimately be accomplished.” “I am much mistaken, indeed,” he continues, “if the Northwest Passage ever becomes the business of a single summer; nay, I believe that nothing but a concurrence of very favorable circumstances is likely ever to make a single winter in the ice sufficient for its accomplishment. But there is no argument against the possibility of final success; for we know that a winter in the ice may be passed not only in safety, but in health and comfort.” [Sidenote: _PARRY’S FOURTH VOYAGE_] “I in April, 1826,” writes Captain Parry, “proposed to the Right Honorable Viscount Melville, the first lord commissioner of the Admiralty, to attempt to reach the North Pole by means of travelling with sledge-boats over the ice, or through any spaces of open water that might occur. My proposal was soon afterward referred to the president and council of the Royal Society, who strongly recommended its adoption; and an expedition being accordingly directed to be equipped for this purpose, I had the honour of being appointed to the command of it; and my commission for his majesty’s ship the _Hecla_, which was to carry us to Spitzbergen, was dated the 11th of November, 1826. [Illustration: ENTERING LANCASTER SOUND]