Parry Facts Country England Occupation Navigator, Explorer Arctic Regions Explored Northwest Passage to 114° W, North Polar region # of Arctic expeditions 4 Most famous Arctic expedition In 1827, he reached farthest north latitude of 82° 45' N Other Significant Events Made detailed surveys of the Baffin Island Coast & published accounts of his expeditions Did you know? On Parry's first voyage, his expedition almost reached the 113th meridian and qualified for the 5,000£ prize offered by the Board of Longitude to the first vessel to cross the 110th meridian in high northern latitudes. On Parry's third voyage, one of the boats, the Fury, was badly damaged by ice and abandoned in August while the other ship sailed as far as Creswell Bay to sight Cape Garry. Though unsuccessful, Parry's 1827 effort to reach the North Pole was unequaled for the next half century. Parry was knighted in 1829 and promoted to rear admiral in 1852.

William Parry
(1790 - 1855)

He made his first expedition in 1818 as second in command to Sir John Ross. The following year, in command of his own ships, Parry entered Lancaster Sound which he found to be a strait. Following the north shore as far west as Maxwell Bay he was stopped by pack ice and forced to turn south where he discovered Prince Regent Inlet. After following the Baffin Island coast to Fitzgerald Bay, Parry was halted once again by ice and had to return north to Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait. Improved ice conditions enabled him to cross the entrance to Wellington Channel and continue west, discovering the islands of Cornwallis, Bathurst, Byam Martin and Melville and the smaller islands lying off their southern coasts. Parry also sighted and named Somerset and Prince Leopold Islands and Cape Walker at the eastern end of Russell Island. The expedition was finally stopped again by ice at Viscount Melville Sound but Parry's ships had reached 114° west latitude. They then set up camp for the winter at Winter Harbor and on the return trip in summer, Banks Island was sighted and named along with Admiralty and Navy Board Inlets. Pond Inlet and some of the other large fjords on the east Baffin coast were visited at Baffin Bay.

On his second voyage in 1824-25, Parry confirmed that there was no western outlet from Repulse Bay after having travelled along Baffin Island to the entrance of Foxe Channel, along the northeast coast of Southampton Island and through Frozen Strait. He then explored and mapped the coast of Melville Peninsula northward to Fury and Hecla Strait and westward along that waterway to within sight of Cape Hallowell and the Gulf of Boothia.

On his third voyage, a portion of Parry's men explored the coast of Port Bowen on Brodeur Peninsula while others charted the Baffin Island coast southward from Port Bowen to Fitzgerald Bay. Crews of both ships then re-crossed Prince Regent Inlet to Port Neill on the Baffin Island Coast where detailed surveys were made of the harbor.

In a quest for the North Pole, Parry's fourth expedition in 1827 traveled across the ice from Spitsbergen, to latitude 82° 45' north, a feat that remained unmatched for almost fifty years. William Parry died on July 8, 1855.