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 years[115]. The main objects of the expedition were the advancement of the knowledge of geography and navigation, as well as of science generally.