Parry, Sir William Edward (1790-1855), a British naval officer and Arctic explorer, led official expeditions in 1819, 1821, and 1824 in search of the Northwest Passage . Parry discovered Melville Island on one of these voyages (see Melville Island ).
In 1827, Parry sailed in his ship Hecla in an attempt to reach the North Pole by way of Spitsbergen. At Trurenberg Bay, he and his party left the ship and started north. The 28 members of the expedition took two boats and enough supplies for about 70 days. Steel runners attached to the boats enabled them to travel on the ice as well as to sail on the water. The expedition reached 82 degrees 45 minutes north latitude, within 500 miles (800 kilometers) of the North Pole. It was the farthest north any explorer had gone until then and remained a record until 1876.
Parry described his travels in Voyage for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage (1821) and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole in Boats (1828). He was born on Dec. 19, 1790, in Bath, England. He died on July 8, 1855.
