mate decision as to the measures most proper to be pursued, for the advancement of the public service and the security of the ships and people committed to his charge. On receiving their answers, says he:
“It was gratifying to me to find that they unanimously agreed with me in opinion, that any further attempt to penetrate to the westward in our present parallel would be altogether fruitless, and attended with a considerable loss of time, which might be more usefully employed. They also agreed with me in thinking, that the plan I had proposed to adopt of running back along the edge of the ice to the eastward, in order to look out for an opening that might lead us towards the American continent, was, in every respect, the most advisable; and that, in the event of failing to find any such opening, after a reasonable time spent in search, it would be expedient to return to England rather than risk the passing another winter in these seas, without the prospect of attaining any adequate object, namely, that of being able to start from an advanced station at the commencement of the following season.”
On his return to Barrow’s Strait, Lieutenant Parry named several newly discovered islands and capes after Captains Baker and Capel, Major Rennell, Dr. Somerville, &c. &c.
“Having now traced the ice the whole way from the longitude of 114° to that of 90°, without discovering any opening to encourage a hope of penetrating it to the southward, I could not entertain the slightest doubt, that there no longer remained a possibility of effecting our object with the present resources of the expedition; and that it was, therefore, my duty to return to England with the account of our late proceedings, that no time might be lost in following up the success with which we had been favored, should H.M. government consider it expedient to do so. Having informed the officers and men of both ships of my intentions, I directed the full allowance of provisions to be, in future, issued, with such a proportion of fuel as might contribute to their comfort; a luxury which, on account of the necessity that existed for the strictest economy in this article, it must be confessed, we had not often enjoyed since we entered Sir James Lancaster’s Sound. We had been on two-thirds allowance of bread between ten and eleven months, and on the same reduced proportion of the other species of provisions, between three and four; but, although this quantity is scarcely enough for working men for any length of time, I believe the reduction of fuel was generally considered by far the greater privation of the two.”
Lieutenant Parry now ran along the south shore of Barrow’s Strait, at the distance of four or five leagues, and gave
