The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-13 00:00:00

POLAR EXPEDITION.

Froin the Literary Gazette.)

In addition to the particulars which we last week
f!orrimunicated to Our readers respectinfr Captniii
Parry's Expedition, we have now the satisfaction of
laving before them some details which may also be
relied on as equally authentic.

lAbout the middle of May last, the Hecla . r
lowing her away thrutigh the barrier of ice'wla:ittell;
commonly at thatseason
a
ezidiosnens the passage of ships
j
to the northward,
water, several leagues wide, betweoel:leitillspiiee of clear
e ice and the
north' end of Charles's Foreland; and i
sailed round
Haldnyes Headland into the northern entrance of
Sinerenburg Harbour, which was found closed by
one unbroken line of ice, still
tilis firmlyi ahttached to. he
land ou every side. ri
made fast, with the intention of scaewi the
the chipHeclawas
into
harbour; a violent gale, however, fromr the w otttli-
ward, broke away the ice at the margin,' and the
ship drifted, but was fortunately run into a smooth
place which presented itself in the pack or main ice.
Shortly after this, the wind shifted to the
. north-
westward, and the ice closed upon the land, pre-
venting the escape of the Hccla, drifting her
considerably to the eastward, near l' and
tedi3each. Here
the ship remained beset with ice for several days, at
the distance of about five miles from
the land, with- out any clear water in sight. 1
About the first week in June, a southerly gale
drove the ice off the land, ad
water off Waygatz Strait alter L ' the
Reda
into open
ietug twenty-four days
hemmed in. Anxious search
harbour; but the whole coast was
now
made
for
a
was perfectly inaccessi-
ble, on account of the
the shores in ever - ice being firmly attached to
part.
Captain Parry therefore
Islands, hoping to find sailed towards the Seven
them more clear frue. ice, and
to discover among tel
but on arriving at Waelnd'ensolns'icaislhdeltehr for the ship ;
thle
theshores were
there also found entirely blocked t;
ob-
stacle. Capt. Parry now proceeded up by
y same
amo 1 the northward,
among loose and very broken ice,
min. 32 sec., being in long. 19
de to
,at. SI deg. .5
and might have advanced some mg l. dt
mill' east 7
object
Arteer to tile
northward in the Hecla, but his was, if possi-
ble, to find a safe harbour for her, and he agaiu stood
to the southward : no alteration in character, how-
ever, the
was to be perceived,
shores being still
locked up by an e
impenetrable barrier e
of land ice. A
place of shelter was at l .
aet discovered for the Hecla, ie. 70 deg, 55
min ,long. 16 deg. 51 min. cast,
which appears to answer to " William Toleka Bay"
of the
old Dutchcharts ; and here, by sawing a
canal for a quarter
of a mile through the ice, she was
Placed in a
secure situation.
Captain Parry loft the Hecla on the evening of
the 21st e„
sltrtacted for the with
two boats which had been con-
him- The purpose ; Dr. Beverley accompanied
other boat was under the command of
le ieutenant
Ross, who was accompanied by Mr.
114 d; and each
' boat had twelve men, with a supply
'f Provie
'able ions for seventy-one days. On leaving
the Islandweath there was scarcely any ice in sight ;1
er was remarkably fine, and the sea as I
stnooth as a mirror.
bee After Y of Proceeding about ten miles, they came to a
ice
eome , , through which, however, they sailed
. etstance
oy it
at to the northward, but were stopped
deg.. 121. noon on the 24th of June, being in lat. 81
over the
1nin..51 sec., from which time their journey
they
~nr,e, ice commenced. The ice across which
of ealr/eeeded to the northward consisted entirely
' Parate,' detached masses, sometimes just so far sc-
al' ita'",as to render it necessary to launch the boats
enoe,ehe.' theta up again—at other times, close
taakir for them to cross from one to the other by
geth'e'S bridgess of the boats—occasionally joined to-
genera' 0 as to enable them to step across, though
all (..ase"_Y with great risk to their provisions, and in
allow es_ requiring the most laborious exertions to
the jeenem to make ally progress. The surface of
dee: also was so irregular, and so covered with
trieBs "w, that even when they did meet with a
boat of somewhat 044 _ longer extent than usual, the
eteroweee moved with difficulty, and it always re-
-4,448'4 two, and often three or four journeys, to
by two,
their baggage ; and these journeys were
eo • ,
t 0 indirect a route,
1...
~ that they had often
of 'alk two miles to make good one mile
. atsee
diffic "41Ward way. Such, indeed, were the
tilti •
trig the-es of this travelling, that, notwithstande
teen f'l_ rnost strenuous exertions of the officers and
north y'r- eleven hours daily, their progress to the
n' a-ea 'lard did not at first exceed two or three miles
the i; Captain Parry, however, persevered, in
WhiteePe of soon reaching the main or field-ice,
north has always been spoken of as occurring to the
Nof S . • b •
- ire pite eigen, and which Phipps (Lord
I • 81ave1
Mead / upon the same meridian, and even in a
eat e 30 miles to the southward, described as
and unbroken."
k "
AN ca ° en.
°teats. Pr. Parry proceeded to the northward, he
ionall
4 few m Y met with a small floe, and likewise with
Part
01 rieiisw.holes of open water ; but the greater
!basss:
ohniy journey was over loose and rugged
()fiats to be c few yards in extent, requiring the
which consumed‘ctautly launched and hauled up,
exhausting to th-eonsiderable time, and proved very
Water en the ice waste"' The quantity of fresh
elaays wading throughS igr eat, that they were almost
saintly wet with snow r, and their feet were cone
every 24, by which ex water for 12 hours out of
Pirtire the men suffered much from chilblains, &c.*
4 great deal of rain, more addition, they experienced
rif two or three days only thy's:l'g fallen in the course
eight 'previous summers vozduring the whole of
Passed in the polar regions, b -1
Captain Parry had
3, which
boats, and provision-bags, were c their clothes,
4 Wet state. constantly kept in
They soon found that, notwithsteed-
valence, at first, of southerly winds,mg t pre-
, flue ice
decided a tendency to drift to the southward had so
they sometimes lost nearly as much 'vile tile, that 1
,resting as they had gained by the precedingydwere
labour. In consequence of these united obeteaeY:6l
lior.ts, they had, on the 10th July, only reached thc.
i?a3 tude of 82 deg., being then in the meridian of
I. Ideg. east of Greenwich. Even such discou-
aging circumstances as these did not damp the zeal
of Captain Parry and his perty, and they still used
c,v ortery exertion to push to the it h in
ward, the con-
fident hope of at length meeting with the tie ld ice
aiel of then mae eking progress ine some degree pro'
-
Portioned with their exertions; for although it
became bite too evident that the attainment of his
whole , ..,..,
enole ()eject was ,no longer within the scope
°1 his resources, Captain Parry bad determined to
reach the highest latitude which his means would
allow, and, if possible, to extend his journey beyond
the eighty-third degree. As they proceeded,
, 1,1 the
any improvement was found in the nature
'1 the • . • indeed, some of the lightest and most
i ice ,
woken which was met with during their progress,
e veurred in lat. 82 deg. 40 min. In this parcel, as
bk. 4s the eve could reach, nothing at one time could
e seen but detached pieces of bay ice, so thin and
brayed as to render it extremely dangerous to trust
bi provisions upon them. In passing from piece to
'-eee of this ice, only on man could he allowed to
-tellrure near the edge ate time, for fear of breaking
1.
' and although every care was taken, there was a
stitstant but unavoidable risk of losing their provi-
tle;:s, it being often necessary to leave, for a time,
!it' whole means of existence on a surface of ice
.':)e) full of holes, and so thin and decayed that the
11.410"11Lest motion among the surrounding masses
th 'et"' in an instant, have broken it up, and sent
ire Previsions to the bottom. On one occasion, the
eevever which the boats and sledges were travelling,
l'elei WILY under them, by which accident they nat.-
% Y escaped the loss of all their meat, and also
%l i.
tirlves '—one of the men was saved only by his
4g-'• brim attached the
0 belt brine to sledge.
ere 11 the 22d of July, the northerly rind, from
teh
jailed they had been hitherto remarkably free, pre-
'lle,,e' for several days together, giving the ice so
aled a drift to the southward, that they could
Oii. ?he t' •
y . tingling sensation which was experienced when
t.ht patx on' the dry stocking• was even more painful than
(tize,ttP_Ntre to the' snow water.—See the Literary
c of last Saturday.

make little or no advance, even under circumstances
in other respects favourable for travelling. In more
than one instance Captain Parry found, by observa-
tion, that after ten hours' labour, in travelling north-
ward, he had scarcely gained, or rather had not re-
tained, a mile, and had sometimes even lost ground.
From the 2lst to the 26th of July,
they had only
gained one mile of northing, though they had, at
least, travelled twenty-three miles in that direction ;
so that a southerly set, exceeding fcur miles a day;
had prevailed during that interval.
Under such circumstances, it was evidently in

vain to struggle any longer to so little purpose ; and
therefore, on the 96th of July, having travelled
northward thirty-five days, Captain Parry came to
the conclusion, that it would be only incurring use-
less fatigue to the party under his command, to
Persevere any longer in the attempt, which, on such
ice as they had met with, was altogether hopeless.
The highest latitude reached by Captain Parry
was 82 deg. 45 min. 15 sec. upon the meridian► o;.
20 deg. East of Greenwich; to attain which, he
and his party had traversed 292 miles; but taking
into account the number of times they had to return
for the boats and baggage in the course of every
journey over the ice, in consequence of its broken
and rugged surface, the computation of their actual
' travelling up to this point is 580 geographical or
668 statute miles. If the ice had been of the na-
ture anticipated, they could easily have accomplished
the average of 15 miles a clay.
In returning, the party experienced' precisely the
same kind of travelling as in proceeding northwards;
but they now not merely retained whatever distance
they travelled, but daily made several miles more,
especially with a northerly wind.
They reached Little Table Island on the 12th of
August, having been actually upon the ice for forty-
eight
days; and gained the Heda on the 21st,
after an absence of sixty-one days. Captain Parry's
entire party, although they had undergone such con-
stant exposure to wet, cold, and fatigue, returned
to the ship in excellent health, there being only three
individuals ailing, one from accident, and two from
swelled legs; but even these were convalescent in a
short time. .

come to speak of the results of this
voyage :—A continued series of magnetic and me-
teorological observations was obtained. The mag-
netic dip was found gradually to increase in going,
northwards, from about 81 deg. at the Heck s
station, to 82 deg. 22 min. in the latitude of 82;1
deg. The westerly variation decreased in going
northwards from 19 to 15,i deg., and in going to
the eastward it became still less ; but any change of
position to the westward caused the variation
quickly to increase, which it did to 22i deg. in the
longitude of 174 deg. east. All these phenomena
would appear to favour the theory of two magnetic
poles in the northern hemisphere of the earth, as
suggested by Professor Hansteen.
In the meteorological phenomena observed in the
course of Captain Parry's progress northwards, there
is, perhaps, nothing so remarkable as the extraordi-
nary frequency of rain in so high a latitude. In one
instance, when in lat. 82 deg., it rained hard for
thirty-one hours, and on another occasion for twenty-
one. On the 23d July a very beautiful natural ap-
pearance was observed, consisting of six distinct
fog-bows strongly tinged with the prismatic colours.
No appearance of land was seen to the northward
at the extreme point of Captain Parry's journey ;
and as the birds had almost entirely forsaken the
party as they proceeded in that direction, mid no
bottom could be found with 500 fathoms of line, it
is probable that there is no land within a very con-
siderable distance.

No driftwood was met with after entering the ice,
nor any whales during the voyage, except on the
ground already frequented by whalers on the western
side of Spitzbergen.
During the absence of Captain Parry, Lieutenant
Foster, besides completing some surveys, made an
interesting series of experiments on the diurnal
changes of variation and intensity in the magnetic
needle, by which an amount was discovered in these
phenomena not before suspected to exist at Spitz-
bergen, and which will form valuable data in this
department of science.
A complete collection of specimens of natural
history has been made, sufficient to furnish the Bri-
tish, Edinburgh, and Dublin Museums.

Having laid before our readers these farther in-
teresting particulars of this Expedition, we will add
a few remarks, which, we may say, belonged to our
last number. After expressing our admiration at
the manly perseverance displayed by the whole party
engaged upon the ice, we cannot withhold a pecu-
liar and public tribute of that feeling from its gal-
lant commander, whose conduct has been described
to us in terms of the most unmeasured eulogy. Cap-
tain Parry not only shared every toil with his men,
but animated them by his example, and encouraged
them by cheering words, when almost sinking under
exhaustion. He raised their hopes, and stimulated
their exertions, ;u recalling to mind what would be
expected of them by their country; and we are as-
sured that the greatest hardships of their situation
were lightened and brightened by the address
and skilful management of their leader, whose
spirits never flagged, and whose good humour never
failed him.

We believe we ought to have mentioned, that be-
sides the two boats which moved on sleds, or skates,
adapted to their keels, and were heavy drags
through the sinking slush, four very clever sledges
were contrived, each made of four snow-shoes, fas-
tened together by transverse bolts, and drawn by
two men. These carried the pemecan and other
provision. Of the former, the pemecan, our notice
may not have been sufficiently explicit. It is meat
prepared in the same way that the Indians prepare
their provision of buffalo or deer. The flesh (beef
in this case) is cut into stripes, and dried, according
to a particular process, by the smoke of wood (the
root of the ash, we believe.) It is then beaten into
a powder, and an equal proportion of fat being
melted, the whole is mixed up together into a solid
m
from mass. It is evident that more of real sustenance
animal matter cannot be combined in any less
bulky or burdensome compound. It makes an ex-
cellent andvery
When cal)t. nutritive soup.
Parry's volume appears, there will
be some
eel o f which, amusing stories of adventures with bears,
seals, &c. some
though we have heard,
we do not
at liberty to repeat : in the mean
time, we will
occurs to us, only submit a speculation which
already published. reconsidering the statements
of all former voyages is known by the experience
the end of the toseason, the Arctic circle, that to-
wardsheat radiating from
from the shores of these sdeeatsa
the in consequence of the
and, the ice is detached
flrceem, ?beer eefooaraet,. doesTak , and floats southward.
Taking this principle with us, when
ch from other ice, but
we find that our expedition
some hundred miles, we
if traversed a surface of
conclude, whatever was
ltehfet eaxntezeitglotaf
ltheaxttent
mass
drifting south, it must have
place in the north. We also waternfer, that there must be land at the north pole, from which this body
was separated; and that, if it could have been en-
tirely,id
hfaveotd a clear
crossed,i
n Captain
Parry
for the
rya hiscompanions
Aioilboats, and had
little difficulty in reaching Polar Land..

THE LATE MAYOR OF INEWCASTLE-UPON-
TrxE.—(From a Correspondent. )—The following minute
has been entered in our Corporation books :—" At a
Meeting of the Common Council of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
held on Monday, the Ist of October inst., that body, in
voting the necessary sum to defray the expences of receiv-
ing, with proper honours, his Grace the Duke of Welling-
ton, added their unanimous thanks to the late Mayor,
Archibald Reed, Esq., and to Mrs. Mayoress,.for the very
handsome and proper manner in which they carried the
wishes of the Body into effect." This very flatterinc, com-
pliment the late Mayor was certainly justly entitled to, on
the score of the specific festivity above named ; in our humble
opinion, however, his late Worship is further deserving of
the greatest praise for the strict attention he paid to the
duties of his office, for the watchful carefulness with which,
on all occasions, he attended to the interests of the town,
and for the liberal and oftentimes splendid hospitalities he
I m— •