Chap. XIII. BACK'S ATTEMPT TO REACH REPULSE BAY. 505 



from seizing upon the minds of the latter. The 

 tranquillity and constant good humour, not to say 

 cheerfulness, of Captain Back, and the unremitting 

 exertions of Lieutenant (now Captain) Smyth, are 

 above all praise. 



Nothing now was left but to get home, as speedily 

 as they could, with the " crazy, broken and leaky ' 

 Terror; which they succeeded in bringing safely to 

 Lough Swilly. "Thus ended," says Captain Back, 

 " an expedition from which, had it been permitted to 

 reach its port of disembarkation, it was reasonable 

 to* expect the full accomplishment of its objects. 

 Uncontrollable circumstances prevented it. The 

 problem itself, which it was intended to solve, re- 

 mains unaltered." Not quite so. In the two years 

 following, the principal part of it was solved by two 

 officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. Captain 

 Back says that the season was so bad that the Hud- 

 son's Bay ship of that year was obliged to return 

 without completing her voyage. It is to be hoped, 

 however, that after the harassing difficulties expe- 

 rienced by Sir Edward Parry, and the failure of 

 Captain George Lyon, and that now by Sir George 

 Back, no further attempt witt ever be made where 

 Cape Comfort and the Frozen Strait are concerned. 



Captain Back's character is well known, but a 

 short sketch of his services may not be inappropriate. 

 He entered the Navy in 1808, in his thirteenth year, 

 on board the Arethusa. The following year he had 



