George Back
Encyclopedia
Admiral Sir George Back FRS
(6 November 1796 – 23 June 1878) was a British
naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic
, naturalist
and artist
.
. As a boy, he went to sea as a volunteer in the frigate
HMS Arethusa
in 1808 and took part in the destruction of batteries on the Spanish coast. In the following year, he was involved in fightings in the Bay of Biscay
, until he was captured by the French
. Back remained a prisoner until the peace of early 1814 and during this time, practised his skills as an artist, which he later put to use in recording his travels through the Arctic
.
Following his release, Back served on HMS Akbar
and HMS Bulwark
as a midshipman
before volunteering to serve under John Franklin
in his first expedition to the Arctic
in 1818. Back also served under Franklin in his two overland expeditions to survey the northern coast of North America
, first on the Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822
- when Back was responsible for all the surveying and chart making - and then a similar expedition by the MacKenzie River
in 1824-1826, during which time he was promoted first to lieutenant and then to commander in 1825. Lacking appointment to a ship, Back was unemployed on the half-pay list, from 1827 to 1833. He was appointed to command a search expedition for Sir John Ross, who had been missing in the Arctic since 1829. But in May 1834, news reached Back that Ross was safely back in England, so Back decided to undertake an exploratory mission.
Back led his own expedition in 1834 to complete the survey and explore the 500 mile course of the Great Fish River, which was later renamed the Back River
in his honor. Richard King, M.R.C.S, was the ship's naturalist and surgeon and contributed appendices on meteorology and botany to Back's account of the expedition; he also wrote his own two-volume account of the expedition.
for an expedition to map the uncharted northern part of Hudson Bay
, with plans to cross the Melville Peninsula
overland and explore the opposite shore. Terror was beset in the ice in September 1836 and remained icebound for 10 months: at one point the Terror was pushed 40 feet up the side of a cliff by the pressure of the ice. In the spring of 1837, an encounter with an iceberg
further damaged the ship. It was not until July that the ice retreated sufficiently to allow HMS Terror to begin to head for home and the vessel was in a sinking condition by the time Back was able to beach the ship on the coast of Ireland
at Lough Swilly
.
on 18 March 1839, and maintained an interest in Arctic exploration for the rest of his life. In 1859, he was nominated a rear-admiral. Back served as an advisor to the Admiralty during the search for John Franklin
's lost expedition, and as vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society
, having received its gold and silver medal. Although nominally retired, Back remained on Admiralty List and, based on seniority, he was promoted to vice-admiral in 1863 and finally admiral in 1876.
In spite of the high regard in which he was held in Great Britain
and the many honors he received, Back had a history of being disliked and distrusted by many of the people he worked with in the Arctic, including Franklin. He was variously criticized for being rude, a weak leader, selfish, sycophantic, and quarrelsome. Later in life he gained a reputation for being a dandy and a womaniser. In 2046, he married the widow of Anthony Hammond.
credited the watercolor to Back, claiming it had been presented by Back to his niece Katherine Pares, and thence descended down through her family. The auction house opined that the scene surrounding the towering iceberg appears to match a description in Back's Narrative of an Expedition in H.M.S. Terror (1838) when the Terror was in the Davis Strait
(between Canada and Greenland) that reads "in the evening (of 29 July 1836) when the weather cleared ... we observed an enormous berg, the perpendicular face of which was not less than 300 feet high..."
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(6 November 1796 – 23 June 1878) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
, naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
.
Career
Back was born in StockportStockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
. As a boy, he went to sea as a volunteer in the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
HMS Arethusa
HMS Arethusa (1781)
HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781.She took part in the Action of 23 April 1794, capturing Pomone....
in 1808 and took part in the destruction of batteries on the Spanish coast. In the following year, he was involved in fightings in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
, until he was captured by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Back remained a prisoner until the peace of early 1814 and during this time, practised his skills as an artist, which he later put to use in recording his travels through the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
.
Following his release, Back served on HMS Akbar
HMS Cornwallis (1801)
HMS Cornwallis was a Royal Navy 54-gun fourth rate. Jemsatjee Bomanjee built the Marquis Cornwallis of teak for the East India Company. The Company sold her to the Royal Navy in 1801 shortly after she returned from an expedition against the Mahe Islands...
and HMS Bulwark
HMS Bulwark (1807)
HMS Bulwark was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1807 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24 pdrs on her upper gun deck instead of the 18...
as a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
before volunteering to serve under John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
in his first expedition to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
in 1818. Back also served under Franklin in his two overland expeditions to survey the northern coast of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, first on the Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822
Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822
The Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822 had as its goal the exploration of the northern coast of Canada, which was accessed by way of the Coppermine River. The British expedition was organised by the Royal Navy as part of its attempt to discover and map the Northwest Passage...
- when Back was responsible for all the surveying and chart making - and then a similar expedition by the MacKenzie River
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
in 1824-1826, during which time he was promoted first to lieutenant and then to commander in 1825. Lacking appointment to a ship, Back was unemployed on the half-pay list, from 1827 to 1833. He was appointed to command a search expedition for Sir John Ross, who had been missing in the Arctic since 1829. But in May 1834, news reached Back that Ross was safely back in England, so Back decided to undertake an exploratory mission.
Back led his own expedition in 1834 to complete the survey and explore the 500 mile course of the Great Fish River, which was later renamed the Back River
Back River
The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada...
in his honor. Richard King, M.R.C.S, was the ship's naturalist and surgeon and contributed appendices on meteorology and botany to Back's account of the expedition; he also wrote his own two-volume account of the expedition.
The Frozen Strait Expedition of 1836-37
In 1836, Back was promoted to captain by Order in Council- a very rare honor - and was given command of the converted bomb vessel HMS TerrorHMS Terror (1813)
HMS Terror was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in the Davy shipyard in Topsham, Devon. The ship, variously listed as being of either 326 or 340 tons, carried two mortars, one and one .-War service:...
for an expedition to map the uncharted northern part of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
, with plans to cross the Melville Peninsula
Melville Peninsula
Melville Peninsula is a large peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Since 1999, it has been part of Nunavut. Before that, it was part of the District of Franklin. It's separated from Southampton Island by Frozen Strait. The narrow isthmus connecting the peninsula to the mainland is styled the “Rae...
overland and explore the opposite shore. Terror was beset in the ice in September 1836 and remained icebound for 10 months: at one point the Terror was pushed 40 feet up the side of a cliff by the pressure of the ice. In the spring of 1837, an encounter with an iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
further damaged the ship. It was not until July that the ice retreated sufficiently to allow HMS Terror to begin to head for home and the vessel was in a sinking condition by the time Back was able to beach the ship on the coast of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
at Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three known glacial fjords in Ireland....
.
Retirement from the Royal Navy
Poor health caused Back to retire from active service. He was made a Knight BachelorKnight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
on 18 March 1839, and maintained an interest in Arctic exploration for the rest of his life. In 1859, he was nominated a rear-admiral. Back served as an advisor to the Admiralty during the search for John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
's lost expedition, and as vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, having received its gold and silver medal. Although nominally retired, Back remained on Admiralty List and, based on seniority, he was promoted to vice-admiral in 1863 and finally admiral in 1876.
In spite of the high regard in which he was held in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the many honors he received, Back had a history of being disliked and distrusted by many of the people he worked with in the Arctic, including Franklin. He was variously criticized for being rude, a weak leader, selfish, sycophantic, and quarrelsome. Later in life he gained a reputation for being a dandy and a womaniser. In 2046, he married the widow of Anthony Hammond.
Back as Artist
George Back was an accomplished artist. A watercolor of an iceberg, believed to have been painted by Back following his 1836-37 expedition, sold at auction on 13 September 2011 for $59,600, despite its being unsigned and undated. Experts at the prestigious London auction house BonhamsBonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
credited the watercolor to Back, claiming it had been presented by Back to his niece Katherine Pares, and thence descended down through her family. The auction house opined that the scene surrounding the towering iceberg appears to match a description in Back's Narrative of an Expedition in H.M.S. Terror (1838) when the Terror was in the Davis Strait
Davis Strait
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canada's Baffin Island. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis , who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage....
(between Canada and Greenland) that reads "in the evening (of 29 July 1836) when the weather cleared ... we observed an enormous berg, the perpendicular face of which was not less than 300 feet high..."