Parry's Rock Wintering Site National Historic Site of Canada

Parry’s Rock Wintering Site National Historic Site of Canada was designated in 1930 because:

-it records an early and important attempt to discover the Northwest Passage by the expedition under William Edward Parry in 1819-20.

Parry’s 1819 expedition arrived in the area in mid-September and spent the winter in Winter Harbour. Before leaving the area, the ship’s surgeon, J. Fisher, inscribed the names of the two vessels, Hecla and Griper, and their captains on the large sandstone rock located on the beach. Parry continued on, sailing farther west, but was stopped by ice near Cape Dundas. Had he been able to sail on through the McClure Strait he would have entered the Beaufort Sea and been able to pass through the Bering Strait to the Pacific. Parry’s expedition had demonstrated that Lancaster Sound opened a passage towards the west that later explorations would show was the Northwest Passage.