mometor was frequently at 48 deg. and once at 67 deg. below zero, and sometimes without tasting food for two or three days at a time. Later on, when Franklin was in dire straits, he again sent Back to get help from the Indians, and after incredible exertions and sufferings, and after seeing one of his companions die on the road, he succeeded in his mission just in time to save Franklin's life. On coming back to England he was made lieutenant in 1822. In 1823 he was appointed to the Superb, and sailed to the West Indies. Next year, while at Lisbon, he was invited to join Franklin's expedition to the Mackenzie river, and hastened to do so. In that memorable expedition he rendered Franklin signal service, especially in his dealings with the Esquimaux, and on coming home in 1827 found himself promoted to the rank of commander. His repeated applications for a ship met with no response, and he went to Italy to improve himself in the arts. At Naples he heard of the supposed loss of Captain Ross in the Arctic regions, and offered the Royal Geographical Society to go in search of him. He had been informed by Copper Indians on his previous journey of the existence of a river rising in the neighbourhood of the Great Slave Lake, and debouching on the Polar Sea, and by tracing this river to its mouth he hoped to make his way to Regent's Inlet, where he thought Captain Ross might be beset. The council accepted his offer, and a grant from government, supplemented by a public subscription, supplied the funds for the expedition, on which he set out with only one companion of his own rank. Dr. Richard King, as surgeon and naturalist, in February 1833. His instructions were, in brief, first to make for the sea by the aforesaid river and, if possible, aid Captain Ross, and, secondly, to survey the sea-coast as far as possible. The first winter was spent by him at Fort Reliance — a house which he constructed near the Great Slave Lake, when himself half starved and amid starving Indians. The cold was so extreme that while washing his face close to a fire his hair froze before he could dry it. In April he received news of Captain Ross's arrival in England, but he was ordered to push on to the river and survey the coast thence to Cape Turnagain. His first difficulty was to discover where the river lay, and to avoid embarking on the wrong one. The name of it was Thlew-ee-choh-deeseth, or Great Fish River, and how doggedly he traced it to the sea, amid perils from the ice and the rapids, managing the Indians, and making friends with the Esquimaux, he has vividly recounted in his 'Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River, in 1834 and 1835.' The narrative is beautifully illustrated by sketches made by himself. Some falls on the river Ah-hel-Dessy, which he named Parry Falls, he describes as far surpassing the Falls of Niagara in splendour of effect. The ice prevented his proposed survey of the coast, and after again wintering at Fort Reliance he reached La Chêne, the Hudson's Bay station, whence he had started over two years before, in August 1835, having since he quitted it travelled 7,500 miles, including 1,200 of discovery. Besides his discovery of a river, over 440 miles long, he had made important observations of the Aurora Borealis, and had given the name of Montreal to an island, afterwards to be so sadly familiar in connection with the fate of Franklin. In October he reached England, was awarded the Geographical Society's gold medal, and was promoted by the admiralty to the rank of captain, by order in council — an honour which no other officer in the navy had received except William IV. In the following year he was, at his own proposal, appointed to the command of an expedition, the object of which was to complete the coast line between Regent's Inlet and Cape Turnagain. On his return home he published a narrative of his voyage, and a terrible story it is. Off Cape Comfort the ship was frozen in, and then drifted up Frozen Channel. From December to March she was driven about, and floated powerless till 10 July, and for three days was on her beam ends, but on the 14th suddenly righted. When 'it wanted but one day to complete four months since the ship had been thrown upon the ice,' she was 'once more in her own element, and subject to the will of man.' But the crazy vessel nearly sank in a gale as she crossed the Atlantic, and it was not till 3 Sept., 'fifteen months since the pleasing sound of a falling anchor had greeted' his ears, that she anchored in Lough Swilly. Two extracts from Back's account of this voyage will illustrate the perils which he encountered, and the style in which he narrated them. 'The ship was still setting fast along shore and much too close to the fixed ice, but it was not till 8 p.m. that any suspicious movement was noticed near us. Then, however, a continually increasing rush was heard, which at 10.45 p.m. came on with a heavy roar towards the larboard quarter, upturning in its progress, and rolling onward with it, an immense wall of ice. This advanced so fast that though all hands were immediately called they had barely time, with the greatest exertion, to extricate three
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/331
Back
319
Back
