Admiral William Parry

a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for his 1819–1820 expedition through the Parry Channel, probably the most successful in the long quest for the Northwest Passage, until it was finally negotiated by Roald Amundsen in 1906. In 1827, Parry attempted one of the earliest expeditions to the North Pole. He reached 82° 45’ N, setting a record for human exploration Farthest North that stood for nearly five decades before being surpassed at 83° 20’ N by Albert Hastings Markham in 1875. Parry was born in Bath, Somerset, the son of Caleb Hillier Parry and Sarah Rigby. He was educated at King Edward’s School.At the age of thirteen he joined the flagship of Admiral Sir William Cornwallis in the Channel fleet as a first-class volunteer, in 1806 became a midshipman, and in 1810 received promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the frigate Alexander, which spent the next three years in the protection of the Spitsbergen whale fishery. Parry took advantage of this opportunity for the study and practice of astronomical observations in northern latitudes, and afterwards published the results of his studies in a small volume on Nautical Astronomy by Night. From 1813 to 1817 he served on the North American Station.Parry’s character was influenced by his religiousness, and besides the journals of his different voyages he also wrote a Lecture to Seamen, and Thoughts on the Parental Character of God. He was noted as “an evangelical [Christian] and an ardent advocate of moral reform in the navy.