Back, SIR GEORGE

Back, SIR GEORGE, Arctic explorer, was born at Stockport in 1796, and entering the navy in 1808, next year was taken prisoner by the French in Spain. With Franklin (q.v.) he had already shared in three Polar expeditions—to the Spitzbergen Seas (1819), the Coppermine River (1819-22), and Mackenzie River (1822-27)—when he volunteered to go in search of Captain Ross, who was supposed to have been lost in his attempt to discover the North-west Passage. His offer having been accepted, he left London in February 1833, and on the 28th June started from a station of the Hudson Bay Company, on his journey north. After passing a terrible winter with his companions near the Great Slave Lake, he discovered, in 1834, Artillery Lake, and the Great Fish River, or Back's River, which he traced to the Frozen Ocean. Hindered by the ice from proceeding along the coast, he returned by the river, and did not reach England till the autumn of 1835, when he was raised to the rank of captain by order in council, an all but unprecedented honour. In 1836 and 1837 he further explored the Arctic shores; and of this, as of the preceding voyage, he published a vivid description. The Geographical Society, in the latter year, bestowed both its medals upon him; and in 1839 he was knighted. He was made admiral in 1857; but the hardships which he had gone through disabled him from further active service. He died 23d June 1878.