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xxix+310pp+clxxix+[2 add] pages with the twenty plates called for, including six maps (4 folding, and the plate "Cutting into Winter Harbour" inserted as frontispiece rather than after page 97), tables and appendixes. Lacks Errata slip. Quarto (11 3/4" x 9 1/2") bound with original boards and new spine with gilt lettering. Second edition. William Edward Parry was born in Bath, England. In 1803, at the age of 13, he entered the Royal Navy and became a sublieutenant the same year. He served in the English Channel and in the Baltic Sea during the Napoleonic Wars and, promoted to lieutenant in 1810, was sent to protect whalers in the Spitzbergen Archipelago. After having spent the War of 1812-1814 on the east coast of North America, Parry had only one wish -- to go in search of the Northwest Passage. He requested authorization from the Admiralty to participate in the polar expeditions that it was organizing. The Admiralty agreed and supported his four Arctic voyages. His first expedition was with John Ross. He commanded the brig Alexander, second ship of the expedition, smaller than Ross' sloop, the Isabella. Travelling more slowly than Ross, Parry arrived in Lancaster Sound second, where he noted that ". the swell comes from the north-west compass (that is, south-south-west true), and continues just as it does in the ocean. It is impossible to remark this circumstance, without feeling a hope that it may be caused by this inlet being a passage into a sea to the westward of it." The controversy raised by his observation, which was contrary to Ross's, who had seen mountains at the end of what he thought was an inlet, led the Admiralty to entrust Parry with a new expedition the following year. Parry left in May 1819 to try to meet Franklin coming over land, and confirmed that there were no mountains such as Ross had seen. He went on to Prince Regent Inlet (which was ice-bound), Barrow Strait, and then a group of islands, which he called North Georgian (now the Parry Islands). For the first time, European ships had entered the Arctic Archipelago. Continuing west, Parry was the first to reach 110° west longitude, off Melville Island, but the ice prevented his going further and he put in at Winter Harbor, on Melville Island, where the freeze-up kept him until August 1, 1820. He then continued west to around Cape Dundas. After having discovered a new land to the south, Banks Island, he had to give up his research because of ice conditions and return to England. This voyage, one of the most important in the history of Arctic exploration, showed that Lancaster Sound opened a passage to the west, and revealed the complex labyrinth of islands through which the sea route to the west would have to be sought. Parry also proved that it was possible to spend the winter inside the Arctic Circle without being in grave danger. Back in England, in November 1820, he was named Commander and unanimously elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. At the end of April 1821, the explorer again left England for the Arctic. This time, he was to go through Hudson Strait and explore the territory west of Baffin Island. Passing north of Southampton Island, he entered Repulse Bay, then looked for a passage in the bays and inlets west of Foxe Basin, but found nothing. Forced to stop, he wintered close to the coast. Because of previous experience, Parry had set his ships up to improve living conditions in the north. First, he modified the heating to reduce humidity in the cabins and replaced the sailors' cots with hammocks to allow for better air circulation. Like Champlain in Acadia in the 17th century, Parry became aware of the importance of entertainment to the crew's morale, especially in the perpetual dark of northern winters. Thus, every two weeks, the Royal Arctic Theater put on a play with costumes and lighting, which the crews of both ships attended. A class was set up for the men to learn to read and write. Others had to go ashore to the observatory every day. Seller Inventory # BOOKS007778
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