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William Edward Parry
19th December, 1790 in Bath, England - 8th July, 1855 in Ems, Germany. Buried in Greenwich
Interesting Trivia:
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Joined the Navy at age 13
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1810, became the rank of lieutenant
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Published his astronomical observations in northern latitudes, in a small volume on Nautical Astronomy by Night (1816)
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In 1821 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
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Published the Journal from his first journey in 1821
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Published his Journal of a Second Voyage, &c., which appeared in 1824
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In 1826, published another Journal of his third journey
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In 1827, his book Narrative of the Attempt to reach the North Pole, &c. was published about his attempt to reach the North Pole
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Pioneered the use of canning techniques for food preservation
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April 1829, received Knighthood
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From 1825 till 1829, he was the acting Hydrographer for the British Admiralty
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From 1829 till 1934, he was Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company
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Was well known for his qualities as a leader, had an uncanning gift for planning and management, infectious enthusiasm and unshakable trust in God
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He wrote Lecture to Seamen, and Thoughts on the Parental Character of God
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His son Edward became a reverend
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Named after him were a county in NS Wales, a crater on the moon and an optical phenomenon , which is a rare halo carries the name “Parry arc”
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Married to: 1st to Isabella Louisa Stanley from 23rd Oct, 1826 till 13th May, 1839 (had 8 children with her. 2nd Catherine Edwards Hankinson on 29th June, 1841 (3 children)
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He was also involved in the famous search for the lost Franklin expedition members
His Story:
Parry went to sea at a very young age and spent many years serving in the Navy. His first expedition was in 1817, as a second-in-command on Captain John Ross's Davis Strait expedition. He caught the bug of the Arctic and in 1819, was sent out by the Admiralty (ranked a Lieutenant) to find out whether it was possible to sail around Baffin Bay. The ships under his command were the “Griper” and “Hecla”. The only thing stopping his attempt was ice, but he got more than half-way to Bering Strait. This extraordinary accomplishment got him the promotion to the rank of commander.
He commandeered two more expeditions, the first one from May 1821 - October 1823, he set out to discover the Northwest Passage, with the ships “Fury” and “Hecla”. These two ships became the first Royal Navy ships to winter in the Canadian Arctic. Unfortunately, the attempt was not successful. During his overwintering, he became friends with the local Inuit and learned a lot from them, helping the party to survive in very good health. It also proved that it was possible to survive an Arctic winter.
In 1824, he set sail again, using the same ships, with the same goal, but had to return back in October 1825, after loosing the “Fury”.
Unfortunately, his next expedition did not succeed either. In 1827, he set out to reach the North Pole, going over the ice from Spitsbergen. He came as far as 82° 45' N, which was an incredible record which stood for fifty years.
Meanwhile, he continued to be the hydrographer to the Admiralty, but got pretty bored with it and jumped at the chance to go to New South Wales in Australia as a commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Co. in 1829. For the next four years, he secured land for the expanding company. He found himself in this vast company’s estate as the magistrate, commissioner but also minister to several hundred people. Under his commission, schools were built and children were baptized.
On his return to England, he really did not slow down much. He married for the second time and had three more children. The posts he held were that at the Admiralty from 1837 till 1846 of the controller of steam machinery which was a newly-created department. After his retirement from active service in 1846, he became the Captain Superintendent of the Haslar Hospital in Gosport. In 1852, he received the rank of rear-admiral and accepted the post of Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, a home for naval pensioners. He held this post until his death in 1855.
Te Papa Whale exhibition in Washington, DC