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Description

A nice example of William Parry's chart showing his expedtiion in search of the Northwest Passage in 1819 and 1820.

Partial map of the Arctic from the Bering Strait to the Orkney and Faroe Islands. Cartographic elements include lines of longitude and latitude, names of bodies of water and geographical locations. Also includes route traveled by Parry's ships and the dates on which they reached certain locations.

Shows Parry's tracts in marvelous detail, including a day by day account of his route, beginning in the north of Scotland in the Orkney Islands and extending west to the north Georgia Islands, via Baffin's Bay and Barrow's Strait. The map extends further west to the "Bhering's Strait," which includes extensive soundings.

After standing by while his predecessor and former commander, the irascible John Ross, was lambasted by the Admiralty for turning back too soon during his first voyage to the Arctic, Parry was grateful to inherit command of the next major expedition. Dedicated to both the physical and mental health of his men, Parry succeeded in reaching Melville Island, being the first to penetrate so far into the hypothetical passage. The voyage made Parry a hero in England, where he was promoted to commander, elected to the Royal Society and presented with numerous awards, all before his thirtieth birthday.

William Edward Parry (1790-1855) was born in Bath. At the age of thirteen he joined the flag-ship of Admiral Cornwallis in the Channel fleet as a first-class volunteer. In 1806 he became a midshipman and in 1810 received promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the frigate Alexander, where Parry spent the next three years in the Arctic Waters near Spitzbergen. During this period, he studied astronomical observations in northern latitudes and afterwards published the results of his studies in Nautical Astronomy by Night (1816).

From 1813-1817 Parry served on the North American station. In 1818, he received command of the brig Alexander, on the Arctic expedition of Captain John Ross. After failing to reach its objective, Parry noted "that attempts at Polar discovery had been hitherto relinquished just at a time when there was the greatest chance of succeeding."

In 1819, he was given the chief command of a new Arctic expedition, consisting of the two ships HMS Griper and HMS Hecla, which over the course of the next two seasons accomplished more than half the journey from Greenland to Bering Strait. This was perhaps the most important advance in finding the Northwest Passage in the first half of the 19th Century. Parry received a promotion to Commander and in May 1821, he set sail with the HMS Fury and HMS Hecla on a second expedition to discover a Northwest Passage but had to return to England in October, 1823 without having achieved his purpose. During his absence, in November 1821, he had been promoted to post rank and shortly after his return he was appointed acting hydrographer, to the navy.

In 1822, Parry received authorization for an attempt on the North Pole from the northern shores of Spitzbergen, where he would reach 82° 45 N. latitude, a record which survived for 49 years. With the same ships, Parry undertook a third expedition on the same quest in 1824, but once again, was unsuccessful and following the wreck of HMS Fury, he returned home in October, 1825.