Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp4.djvu/380

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
362
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1821.

command of another expedition, for the purpose of again exploring the hyperborean regions, Jan. 17, 1824.

The same ships were employed on this occasion as on the last; but the Hecla was now commanded by Captain Parry, and the Fury by Captain Hoppner. Their officers, &c. were (Hecla) Lieutenants John Land Wynn, Joseph Sherer, and Henry Foster (b), the latter acting as surveyor; Dr. Samuel Niell, surgeon; Mr. W. H. Hooper, purser; Mr. William Rowland, assistant-surgeon; and Messrs. John Brunton, F.R.M. Crozier, Charles Richards, and Horatio Nelson Head, midshipmen: (Fury) Lieutenants Horatio Thomas Austin and James Clark Ross; Mr. Allan M‘Laren, surgeon; Mr. James Halse, purser; Mr, Thomas Bell, assistant-surgeon; and Messrs. Berkley Westropp, Charles Crump Waller, and Edward Bird, midshipmen.

The expedition left Deptford, May 8, 1824; touched at the Whale-fish Islands, on the Western coast of Greenland, June 26th; and entered the ice in Baffin’s bay, about the 17th July; but did not reach the entrance of Sir James Lancaster’s Sound until Sept. 10. Three days afterwards, being then within seven leagues of Cape York, Captain Parry had the mortification to perceive the sea a-head of the ships covered with young ice, the thermometer having, for two days past, ranged only from 18° to 20°. “On reaching it,” says he, “we had, as usual, recourse to ‘sallying’[1], breaking it with boats a-head, and various other expedients, all alike ineffectual without a fresh and free breeze furnishing a constant impetus; so that after seven or eight hours of unsuccessful labour in this way, we were obliged to remain as we were, fairly and immovably beset.

“It now appeared high time to determine as to the propriety of still continuing our efforts to push to the westward, or of returning to England, according to my instructions on that head, under particular circumstances. As the crossing of the ice in Baffin’s Bay had of itself unexpectedly occu-
  1. The operation of causing the ship to roll, by the men running in a body from side to side, so as to relieve her from the adhesion end friction of the young ice around her.