PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD (179o-1855 ) , Eng lish rear-admiral and Arctic explorer, was born in Bath on Dec. 29, 179o, the son of a doctor. At the age of 13 he joined the flag ship of Admiral Cornwallis in the Channel fleet as a first-class volunteer, in 1806 became a midshipman, and in 1810 became lieutenant in the "Alexander" frigate, which was employed for the next three years in the protection of the Spitzbergen whale fishery. He made many astronomical observations in northern lati tudes, and afterwards published the results of his studies in a small volume on Nautical Astronomy by Night (1816). From 1813-17 he served on the North American station. In 2818 he was given the command of the "Alexander" brig in the Arctic expedition under Captain (afterwards Sir) John Ross. This ex pedition returned to England without success, but in the following year Parry obtained the chief command of a new Arctic expedi tion, consisting of the two ships "Griper" and "Hecla." This expedition returned to England in Nov. 1820 after a successful Arctic voyage (see POLAR REGIONS), having accomplished more than half the journey from Greenland to Bering strait, the com pletion of which solved the ancient problem of a North-west Pas sage. A narrative of the expedition, entitled Journal of a Voyage to discover a North-west Passage, appeared in 1821. In May 1821
Parry set sail with the "Fury" and "Hecla" on a second expedition to discover a North-west Passage, but was compelled to return to England in Oct. 1823 without achieving his purpose. Mean while he had in Nov. 1821 been promoted to post rank, and shortly after his return he was appointed acting hydrographer to the navy. His Journal of a Second Voyage, etc., appeared in With the same ships he undertook a third expedition on the same quest in 1824, but was again unsuccessful, and the "Fury" being wrecked, he returned home in Oct. 1825 with a double ship's company. Of this voyage he published an account in 2826. In 2827 the Admiralty sanctioned an attempt on the North Pole from the northern shores of Spitzbergen, and Parry reached 82° 45' N. latitude. He published an account of this journey under the title of Narrative of the Attempt to reach the North Pole, etc. (1827). In April 2829 he was knighted. He became comptroller of the newly created department of steam machinery of the navy, retiring in 2846, when he was appointed captain-superintendent of Haslar hospital. He became a rear-admiral in 2852, and in 1853 a governor of Greenwich hospital. He died on July 8, 1855.
See Memoirs of Rear-Admiral Sir W. E. Parry; by his son, Rev. Edward Parry (3rd ed., 1857).