Back’s sufferings while in search of help had been quite as severe as those of his comrades he had left behind. His sole food consisted of a pair of leather trousers, a gun-cover, and an old shoe, with a little tripe de roche. At length, after some days, he fell in with the Indians and sent them with food to Fort Enterprise. Reaching Fort Providence he found Franklin’s commission as Commander, and his own as Lieutenant. On his arrival in England Franklin was promoted to the rank of Captain on November 20th, 1822.
Franklin was busily employed, while in England, in writing the narrative of his expedition, and in August 1823 he married Miss Eleanor Porden. Their married life was a brief one, for she died in February 1825, soon after Franklin’s departure on his second expedition, leaving a daughter.
When Parry sailed on his third voyage by way of Prince Regent’s Inlet, it was resolved that Captain Beechey, in the Blossom, should co-operate by way of Bering’s Strait, while another land expedition was despatched to the north coast of America. Captain Franklin and Lieut. Back were to explore to the westward of the Mackenzie River, while Dr Richardson and Mr Kendall were to survey the coast between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine. Three boats were specially built for the expedition, combining lightness with stability. The largest was 26 feet long, the other two 24 feet.
The expedition left England in February, 1825. For a few days the explorers rested at Fort Resolution, the only station of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the Slave Lake, and then proceeded to the Mackenzie River, which was reached on the 2nd of August. They descended the river to the Hudson’s Bay post called Fort Norman. Lieut. Back, accompanied by Mr Dease of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was then sent to the Great Bear Lake to select a site and build a house for winter quarters. Franklin and Kendall went down the Mackenzie to its mouth. They all returned to Fort Franklin on the Great Bear Lake in 65° 11′ 50″ N. to winter. The party consisted of 15 seamen and marines, nine Canadian voyageurs, and some Indians with their families. Another boat was built and named the Reliance.
The two parties, led by Franklin and Richardson, left Fort Franklin on the 24th of June, 1826, descended the Mackenzie River together, and parted west and east where the delta commenced, on the 3rd of July. In making his way along the coast to the westward Franklin’s boats were often in danger from heavy masses of ice, and suffered long detentions from foul weather. On the 18th of August he found it necessary to give up any attempt to proceed further, having discovered 374 miles of new coast. He named his furthest point Cape Beechey. Captain Beechey in the Blossom was off Icy Cape by the middle of August, and sent a boat to meet Franklin, and the two boats were within 160 miles of each other, but Beechey and Franklin were not destined to meet. Beechey discovered Point Barrow.
Franklin and Back returned to Fort Franklin on the 21st of September. Meanwhile Dr Richardson and Kendall had discovered and surveyed the coast between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine, returning to Fort Franklin by the Coppermine River.
The large island facing the north coast has received several names, but the Dominion Government wisely determined that it shall be known by one only—Victoria Island. The strait between Victoria and the mainland was named after the two boats in which Richardson and Kendall embarked, Dolphin and Union.
The expedition returned to England in September, 1827, after an absence of over 2½ years, having surveyed a coast-line of more than 1000 miles, hitherto unknown. Back was promoted to the rank of Commander, and Franklin was knighted in 1829. On the 5th of November, 1828, he married en secondes noces Jane the daughter of John Griffin of Bedford Place, who both on her father’s and mother’s (Jeanne Guillemard) side was of Huguenot stock. He commanded the Rainbow frigate in the Mediterranean from 1830 to 1834, and was appointed Governor of Tasmania in 1837. Franklin’s narratives of his two expeditions were published in quarto volumes beautifully illustrated by Captain Back’s drawings.
The next expedition to the north coast of America was a private one. A Committee raised the necessary funds, and the plan was to descend a river which was supposed to have its rise in the Great Slave Lake, and to fall into the Polar Sea. The object was to obtain tidings of, and to succour, the expedition of the Rosses, which had not been heard of for some years. Captain Back received the command, and his companion was Dr Richard King, a medical man. Only three other men were taken from England. The explorers started in February 1833, 15 men were engaged, and the expedition reached the Great Slave Lake. The source of what Back called the Great Fish River was discovered, but its course was found to be tortuous and full of rapids. Back, therefore, caused two boats to be built, specially adapted for river navigation, and for being taken over the portages. They were sharp at both ends, with good beam, and plenty of floor for stowage. They were 30 ft. long over all, 24 ft. keel, with extra oars, masts, and tillers. Their lower parts were carvel, and the upper clinker-built. Runners, plated with iron, were fixed on either side of the keel, so that they could easily be drawn over ice by six dogs and two men. Eight men formed the crew.
Captain Back and Dr King were thus well equipped for discovering the course of the Great Fish River. But at this juncture the news was received of the safety of the Rosses, and it did not seem justifiable to do more than descend the river to its mouth. This Back did, finding that the river has a violent and tortuous course of 530 miles, sometimes expanding into large lakes, and having 83 falls and cascades. The estuary was surveyed, together with a large island named Montreal. Back intended to have traced the coast as far as Cape Turnagain, but only got 15 miles westward to Capes Richardson and Maconochie. Captain Back and Dr King both published narratives of the Great Fish River expedition.