HISTORICAL SUMMARY 95 
very leaky. In such a state he was unable to anchor, and was 
obliged to return home immediately. 
A second attempt to continue parry's work in the same region 
was made by Captain Back, in 1836. He was in command of 
the Terror, and left England on the 14th of June. On the first 
of August he was among heavy ice, off Resolution island. On 
the 23rd he was working through heavy ice on the east side of 
Southampton island, and finally nearly reached Repulse bay, 
where he intended to winter, when he was driven back late in 
September, past Cape Comfort, out into the middle of Fox 
channel, where the ship became fast frozen in, and drifted all 
winter at the mercy of wind, tide and ice. Towards the close 
of February the floe broke up, and the ship was caught in a 
pressure ridge formed between great pieces of the broken floe. 
In this manner the vessel continued to be tossed about and 
squeezed until the 16th of March, when an extra heavy squeeze 
lifted the ship up and left her stranded on the top of a great 
mass of ice, caused by the piling of large broken cakes upon one 
another. The Terror remained embedded on this mass of 
ice, and drifted with it until released, on the 13th of June, near 
Charles island, in Hudson strait. Notwithstanding the terrible 
usage of the ship, Back managed to caulk and fit her, so that he 
reached the coast of Ireland, but there had to run the ship 
ashore to prevent her from sinking. 
The Admiralty made no further attempt at Arctic explora- 
tion for nine years after Back's disastrous trip. In 1845, they 
fitted out the Erebus and Terror with provisions for three years, 
and with the most approved systems of heating and ventilating, 
and other means of preserving the health and comfort of the 
crews. The command of the expedition was given to Sir John 
Franklin, with Captain Crozier, of the Terror, second in com- 
mand. The other officers were carefully selected from among 
the most promising and energetic of the junior officers of the 
navy, while the seamen and petty officers were also of the best 
