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 



