Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
We rose at five P.M., the weather being clear and fine, with a moderate
breeze from the south; no land was in sight from the highest hummocks,
nor could we perceive anything but broken loose ice in any direction. We
hauled across several pieces which were scarcely fit to bear the weight
of the boats, and in such cases used the precaution of dividing our
baggage, so that, in case of the ice breaking or turning over, we should
not lose all at once. The farther we proceeded, the more the ice was
broken; indeed, it was much more so here than we had found it since
first entering the "pack." After stopping at midnight to dine and to
obtain the meridian altitude, we passed over a floe full of hummocks, a
mile and a half in length; but any kind of floe was relief to us after
the constant difficulty we had experienced in passing over loose ice.
After several hours of very beautiful weather, a thick fog came on
early on the morning of the 6th July, and at five A.M. we halted, having
got to the end of the floe, and only made good two miles and a half to
the northward. The fog continued very thick all day; but, being
unwilling to stop on this account, we set out again at half past six in
the evening, and passed over several small flat pieces with no great
difficulty, but with much loss of time in launching and hauling up the
boats. Towards the end of our day's journey, we landed on the only
really level floe we had yet met with. It was, however, only three
quarters of a mile in length, but, being almost clear of snow, afforded
such good travelling, that, although much fatigued at the time, we
hauled the boats and all the baggage across it at one journey, at the
rate of about two miles an hour, and halted at the northern margin at
five A.M. on the 7th. The prospect beyond was still very unfavourable,
and at eight in the evening, when we again launched the boats, there was
not a piece of large or level ice to be seen in a northern direction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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