William Parry had set sail in May…

William Parry had set sail in May 1821 with the HMS Fury and HMS Hecla on a second expedition to discover a Northwest Passage, but had had to return to England in October 1823 without achieving his purpose.

During his absence he had in November 1821 been promoted to post rank, and shortly after his return he was appointed acting Hydrographer of the Navy.

His Journal of a Second Voyage, &c., had appeared in 1824.

With the same ships, Parry had undertaken a third expedition on the same quest in 1824, but again unsuccessfully, and following the wreck of the Fury, had returned home in October 1825 with a double ship's company.

He published an account of this voyage in 1826.

Parry has also pioneered the use of canning techniques for food preservation on his Arctic voyages.

However, his techniques were not infallible: in 1939 viable spores of certain heat-resistant bacteria were found in canned roast veal that had traveled with Parry to the Arctic Circle in 1824.

Parry weds Isabella Louisa Stanley, daughter of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley and Lady Maria Josepha Holroyde, on October 23, 1826.

In the following year Parry obtains the sanction of the Admiralty for an attempt on the North Pole from the northern shores of Spitzbergen at Seven Islands.

In 1827, he reaches 82°45’N, which will remain for forty-nine years the highest latitude attained.

He publishes an account of this journey under the title of Narrative of the Attempt to reach the North Pole, &c. (1827).