CHAPTER XIII. 



CAPTAIN GEORGE BACK. 

 1836-37. 



Narrative of an Expedition in H.M.S. Terror, undertaken 

 with a view to Geographical Discovery on the Arctic 

 Shores. 



This voyage was recommended by the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society to the Colonial Secretary, and by 

 him to the Lords of the Admiralty. The object of 

 the Society was nearly the same as that on which 

 Captain Lyon had been employed ; and the Admi- 

 ralty having supplied a ship, the Terror, furnished 

 him also with instructions, the general import of 

 which was that he should proceed in the first instance 

 to Wager River, or Repulse Bay, as he should find 

 most expedient; observing, however, that, at Salis- 

 bury Island, " you will have to choose between the 

 direct and obvious course up Frozen Strait, which 

 was performed with apparent ease by the Fury and 

 Hecla, in 1821, or the more circuitous route by the 

 Welcome, which was unsuccessfully attempted by 

 the Griper, in 1824." Captain Back, having this 

 choice, from such high authority, — success on 

 the one hand and failure on the other, — could 



