Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; Performed in the Years 1819-20

$900 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: William Edward Parry (1790-1855) Year: 1821 Publisher: John Murray Place: London Description: 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 at the age of 13, 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

• Binding: Hardcover

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