In a subsequent part of his narrative, Captain Parry states, that the rain produced even a greater effect than the sun, in softening the snow.
“In performing our pioneering duty,” adds he, “we were frequently so beset in it, that sometimes, after trying in vain to extricate our legs, we were obliged to sit quietly down for a short time to rest ourselves, and then make another attempt. The men, in dragging the sledges, were often under the necessity of crawling upon all-fours to make any progress at all. Nor would any kind of snow-shoes have been of the least service, but rather an incumbrance to us, for the surface was so irregular, that they would have thrown us down at every other step.”
The farther Captain Parry proceeded, the more the ice was broken; indeed it was much more so on the 5th July, in lat. 81° 45' 15", than he had found it since entering the “pack[1].” The labour required to drag the boats over the hummocks, and from one mass to another, was so great, that the officers and men, after having recourse to a “bowline-haul,” for many minutes together, were often obliged to sit down, their breath being quite exhausted. On the 7th of that month, having first launched the boats into the water, over a high and rugged margin, and then hauled them across a number of irregular and ill-connected masses, sometimes making them serve as bridges, they were more than two hours in proceeding a distance of about 150 yards. Still their work went on cheerfully, their hope resting on at length meeting with something like continuous and level ice.
“On the 20th,” says Captain Parry, “we halted at 7 a.m., having, by our reckoning, accomplished six miles and a half in a N.N.W. direction, the distance traversed being ten miles and a half. It may, therefore, be imagined how great was our mortification in finding that our latitude, by observation at noon, was only 82° 36' 52", being less than five miles to the northward of our place at noon on the 17th, since which time we had certainly travelled twelve in that direction. * * * * * * On the 24th, Lieutenant Ross, in exerting himself to drag his boat along, received a severe squeeze between her gunwale and a hummock of ice, which gave Mr. Beverly reason to apprehend at first, from the numbness and sickness which ensued, that his spine might be affected; but happily no such bad consequences followed this accident[2].”
