We have made good time and have the luxury of choosing our next strategic point. Destination: Port Bowen. On this leg of our journey we will be following Sir W.E. Parry. In the year 1819. Parry was rewarded a price for having reach 30 degrees more West then before. On this expedition he discovered Barrow Strait and Prince regent Inlet. He had shown which way to go in the search for the North West Passage. In 1821 he discovered Hecla and Fury strait, but not the ‘hoped for’ opening to the South.
Parry started a third Arctic expedition in 1824 where he met with vigorous ice. This summer proved much colder and the winter more severe than his 1819 trip. When rounding Cape York, Parry and his officers decided to winter in Port Bowen. Their ships Hecla and Fury where laid up. Yards and top masts where brought down and a trapline covered the ship. Parry was known to look after his crew. He had made innovations in cloths and their material, as well as set up a classroom for those willing to be taught. He had also brought the first canned food into the Arctic as he knew it would be hard to live of the land this far North.