The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-12-04 00:00:00

ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

he arrival of the Heela. Captain Parry, and the
'Caper, Lieut. M. Liddun, at Deptford, from their
voyage of discoveries in the Paler Sea, has given
opportunity to an Officer to supply ns with some
particulars relating .to their interesting course,
which have not yet been published.—( Hatespshire
Telegraph )
It was on the 11th of May that the Hecht awl
Griper lift England. lo the middle of June they
ti rid full in with ice ; and at the latter end of that
month they were beset by it, while making for the
west caast of Davis'. Straits. After some little
tone the 9ilipS were liberated, and they steered
:iorthward along the edge of the ice. which led
:lent tut to Disco island. and no appearance of
sily opening in it was discovered. In lat. 72. 30. N.
hey fell in with a whaler, which reported that
tie was blocked agsinst the land in 74. N.
whirls determined the Commander of the Expe-
s!ition to take the ice at this abave spot. Accord
ugly they commenced, and persevered in warping
wad heaving through between the fl.ws, when, being
sided by a strung easterly wind, which opened the
rt. a little, they were enabled to force their way
t•irougli, with ail sail pet. They were frequently
s•dtpiirdi in rhilr arduous exertions, from which they
I.hrrated themselves by sawing the ice.—Thrs
passage war never before attempted, and is a
vi-camstance of great importance to whalers.
Tli.y were now in clear water, and saw no ice
*pia until they made Lancaster Sound, where it
spiteartd in small open streams. They made this
Sound on the Ist of Angust, and having IP fair
wind, they steered up it, with every yard of canvass
se, but all the time they were in the greatest
siisiety. At length, on the spot where Captain
Koss, the firmer Navigator, had placed Croker
they struck soundings, 200 fathoms.,
iti passed! i.. Mopes now again revived, especially
s.l iu proceeding the Strait was found neither ha)
t.'ose nor too open.

They now ran to the meridian of 90. W. when
• lost sight of the South shore, and having a
I,og swell, they concluded they had reached the
Polar Basin; but iii stretching across the Strait,
:.4ty aere stopped, just before night, by the ice.
There being aplre rrmire of water to the Southward,
Viwy s'eered in that direction, and discovered an
Jet, whirls they called Prince Regent's Inlet.
The fool tide coining from the South, it was con-
s 4.•re.1 pthheble that this inlet communicated with
floilton's Bay ; the ships, therefore (it not being
t.le object of the EXpedition to trace to that source),
!N.:tuned to the split where they had been stopped
by the ice. Finding on their return that the ice
t• .d ill some degree c!eared away, they again pro.
v-ed,d West, but the ice became so close as to
1.-ave only :a narrow channel close along the shore ;
d they were fro quet,tly stopped altogether, %hell
.rorthetly winds generally opened it again.
On the 411 of September they reached Copper
Aline Road.. Previous to this the variation had
from 124. W., to 166. E. the ships having,
%a+ sapposed, crossed the magnetic meridian iii
• 1-10. W. ; as the compasses there 'hewed the
• 'r hearts to be N.E. on all tacks, they judged
ti•einta Ives at no great distance from the magnetic
1: le. The compas.ms had indeed been perfectly
u•cless from the time of their passing Lancaster's
tiotind, which obliged them to steer by the curt,
.0,01 it war out, and how they could when it was
oat ; often laying to when the fog was thick,
is change ot wind would sometimes clear the
mospheie sufficiently for the sun to penetrate it.

One morning. having run about 100 miles in a
fog, they made the land. but could not tell
tether it was a new discovery. or the island which
trey haul left the day before. until the longitude
was ascertain, d upon a floe of ice : it then proved
to be Melville Island. Cools:der:Able discoveries
were made its the variation, dip of the compass, and
rorgurtirm iu general during the voyage. On the
li of September the *ea was first frozen over,
carried the ships into dangerous situations,
cid rendered them immoveable. This obliged
tl'em to get into port fur the winter, and a par-age
of three miles into Winter Harbour, Melville Island,
war cut fur the purpose. Soon after this period the
ihtrintrineter fell below Zero; in November it stood
sit .50. below, and in April following at 53. which
I. tter is the greatest degree of cold ever registered.
On the 16 h of November the sun set from them,
is.:d did not rise again till the 6th February. On
u,e 21st of December, ottani, they could just read
ittn•lll print bl to g the leaf to the light. They
tw no clouds dating the winter, and but little snow
IV.I. The Aurora Borealis was frequently seen, but
nrier brilliantly displayed. It was bitter cold
when the wind blew, but at other tinter bear-
-al:le. Its inteirsity may be judged of from the fact
tnbt port wine in the officers' cabins, froze and
corm the bottles; and on the officers' beds the
thermometer staid from 16. to i 0 below the freezing
At Nlelville lie the ships were blocked uponvil
the Irt of August, when, the first opportunity that
presented. they pus'ied out, and on the 6th reached
the western termination of Melville Island, when
the fl.,e ice was from forty to sixty feet thick,
and so c..mp-sct that not a lisle of water could
•be seen amongst ii. The ships waited here eleven
-tfrys of the summer in that clime),
when teeing no change. and the general opinion
being that all attempts to proceed westward in
dart parallel were tireless. they. on the 43d of
August, steered to the Eastward, searching for
a passage to the Southward, tlivt would enable
them to reach the Continent (of North America) ;
but finding none. and the ice having led them back
into Lancaster', Sound, it was determined to return
to England. During, the eleven days the ships
were off Melville Island, they were in the most cii-
ticsl situation, being obliged to dodge the ice FOUIIII
point of land the whole titne, to avoid being
nipped : the beach was formed of ice, which pro-
jected wider water more than thirty yards, haviarg
shout two fittliumr rater on the outer edge of it,
spina which the ships lay in Moe fathoms; so that
had they been stove. they would have wok deeper
than their masts down, and patting could have beau
saved. - .

We nuke the following extract front • *came
wool, entitled " Observations on • berth-Nesters
Pomp, by tnn. Gabon, Esq. of Portsmouth,"
paUished w thr yea' 170. If the atebuticy united