The following days were a succession of incredible hardships, the result of the damp weather, the barrenness of the coast, and the soft snow and slush into which the men plunged knee-deep at every step. No fire could be lighted, and in consequence they had no means of securing warmth or cooked food; the men became low-spirited and discouraged. The country was flat and desolate, an “irregular plain of sand and stones; and had it not been for a rill of water, the meandering of which relieved the monotony of the sterile scene, one might have fancied one’s self in one of the parched plains of the East, rather than on the shore of the Arctic Sea.”
Making a heroic advance, Back discovered and named Point Ogle and Point Richardson, caught a sight of Boothia Felix, and then having reached latitude 68° 13´ 57´´ N., longitude 94° 58´ 1´´ W., he unfurled the British flag and took formal possession in the name of His Majesty, William IV, amid the enthusiastic cheers of his comrades. They left the cold Arctic shores the middle of August, and not until the 17th of September did they meet Mr. McLeod at Sandy Hill Bay, according to appointment, and with him reached Fort Reliance on the 27th.
A second winter was passed in the wilderness of the inhospitable north, devoted by Back and Dr. King to writing their journals, mapping their discoveries, and arranging their scientific data, the crew occupying themselves in hunting and fishing expeditions.
The last of March, Captain Back, having left instructions for Dr. King to proceed as soon as the weather would permit to the company’s factory at Hudson Bay, there to embark for England in their spring ships, proceeded through Canada, and by way of New York to England, where he arrived at Liverpool the 8th of September. Dr. King reached England a month later.
For this remarkable discovery and voyage down the Great Fish River, Captain Back received from the Royal Geographical Society their Royal premium (a gold medal). In 1835 he was knighted, having already had the congratulations and approbation of His Majesty, the King.
The following year Captain Back made another Arctic voyage, in command of the ship Terror, up Hudson Strait. Unfortunately the ship got fast in the ice off Cape Comfort, and there remained at the mercy of the destructive ice-pack through a dreary winter until the following July. She had become so disabled that she was barely equal to crossing the Atlantic, but the return voyage was fortunately accomplished in safety.
SIMPSON AND DEASE
In 1836 the Hudson Bay Company, desiring to complete the survey of their northern territories, especially the coastline of Arctic America, sent out two of their employees, Dease and Simpson, with a party of twelve men.
Descending the Mackenzie River to the sea, they surveyed the westward shore-line between Return Reef and Cape Barrow. Two large rivers were discovered, the Garry and Coleville. Though the season was midsummer, the ground was frozen, and northeasterly winds made progress very trying.
By the 1st of August, further navigation proved impracticable and, dividing the party, Simpson, with some of the men, continued the journey on foot, and Dease remained with the rest of the crew in charge of the boats. Simpson fell in with Eskimos, of whom he hired an oomiak, a large canoe, to aid him as occasion demanded. A few days later he writes:—