It was not until the 2d of July that the ships, free from ice for the first time in 267 days, put to sea, but not without danger of squeezes from the moving ice-floes which frequently threatened the destruction of the ship. Pushing to the northward, they entertained high hopes of making the looked-for passage to the Polar Sea, but unfortunately a formidable line of impenetrable ice barred the way and determined Parry to make an expedition along the frozen surface of the strait in which they found themselves.
For four days Parry, accompanied by a party of six, made a laborious and fatiguing advance over the uneven hummocks of ice that confronted them. At times open water made the journey still more perilous. Their exertions were at last repaid when they came in view of a bold cape, where they found the strait at its narrowest part about two miles across. To the westward the land receded until it became invisible, and Captain Parry beheld the great Polar Sea, into which he had long hoped to force his way. Naming this the Fury and Hecla Strait, he made ready for the return to the ships.
Taking advantage of every favourable condition, Captain Parry now made as rapid progress toward his goal as the ice would permit. Under full sail they pushed into the rotten ice that formed the barrier to the open water, but suddenly they became fixed,—not another yard could be gained. It was now found necessary to extricate the vessels and seek shelter for another long winter. On the 30th of October, by the usual operation of sawing, the ships were drawn into the harbour of Igloolik, and made ready for the winter, which was now rapidly closing.
Excursions were occasionally made with dogs and sledges bought of the Eskimos, but the season settled down with unusual severity and the second long winter’s night proved much more trying than the first. Death and scurvy made their lamentable appearance, and although Captain Parry desired to make another effort the following year by transferring to the _Fury_ all provisions that could be spared, and sending the _Hecla_ home with the sick, this project was abandoned, and on the 9th of August they turned their faces homeward.
They touched at Winter Island and found radishes, mustard, cress, and onions that they had planted the previous year still alive. The ships were drifted about in a stormy sea at the mercy of ice-floes and adverse currents. Not until September 23 did they get free into the Atlantic; and, the 10th of October, 1823, reached Lerwick, Scotland.