The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-11 00:00:00

RETURN OP CAPT. BACK
-THE ARCTIC REGIONS.

The Dublin Evening Post of Thursday contained inte'.-
ligence to the following effect :—We have just had tie
pleasure of an interview with Captain Back, the c
mender of her Majesty's ship Terror, who, it may be re-
membered, went out in June, 1836, to look for Cap ail)
Ross in the North Seas. The Tcrror arrived in Lo Ali
Swilly yesterday morning in a very disabled state,
having three chains round her bottom, and part o: her
helm broken off. The crew had been locked up in the ice
from August, 1836, till August, 1837 ! During the en-
tire of that weary and dreary period the crew suffered se-
verely from scurvy, and several of them are yet afflicted
with the disease. They lost their gunner and two men in
the ice. They are as noble a set of fellows as could be
found anywhere, and are in great spirits at their safe return,
none of them having had, for many months, the least hope
of seeing British ground again. The only human beings
they saw during their entire voyage were four Esquimaux
Indians ; and they never dropped anchor since they left
this country until yesterday morning. Captain Back is
just about to start by the mail, for Dublin, and thence
proceeds direct to the Admiralty, via Holyhead, the bearer
of his own deipatchcs. The Terror is in such wretched
condition that she must be beached immediately to prevent
her going down where she lies at anchor. Captain Back
had intended to put into some port on the Scottish coast,
but was unable to do so, through a dread of foul weather,
which would have inevitably destroyed his vessel. NVe
are not able to present our readers with any further parti-
culars of this voyage.
(From the Freeman's Journal.)
We arc enabled, through the kindness of one of the
officers of: the above ship, to inform the readers of the
Freeman's Journal of the safe arrival of its intrepid crew,
to whom were assigned the perilous duty of trying the long-
sought after but still undiscovered north-western passage.
The courage and dauntless intrepidity with which the
ship's company endeavoured to surmount the obstacles op-
posed to their efforts by the climate, and the fearful and
dangerous consequences resulting from these exertions, were
almost incredible ; and, indeed, their return, after an ab-
sence of twelve months, the greater part of the time hem-
med in by one wide impassable sheet of ice, appears all but
miraculous. The hardships endured, the dangers encoun-
tered and triumphed over, are of such a character as must
render their history at once affecting-and interesting.
On Sunday night last the ship put in at Lough Swilly
in an almost sinking condition, the men incessantly la-
bourine- at the pumps, and the hull of the vessel se-
cured °by chains and cables, to keep her together.
It appears she was encompassed by the ice at the
latter end of August, 1836, at which time her crew
consisted of sixty souls, including officers, who were at
various times exposed to the most imminent perils from
the- constant concussion of huge masses of ice, which
were dashed against the vessel with tremendous violence,
threatening either a violent and sudden death, and, in the
event of escape from this danger, to await slow but cer-
tain destruction by the appaling means of famine and cold.
Deprived of fresh provisions or vegetables of any kind,
disease spread amongst them with a rapidity only equalled
by its virulence ; twenty-five of the crew were together
afflicted by that well known scourge of the latitude, the
scurvy, to which three of them fell victims—Donaldson,
the gunner, a seaman named James Walker, and Alexander
Young, a marine. No efforts on the part of the medical
gentlemen who attended them could avert the conse-
quences; and, oppressed by an accumulation of sufferings
which they were unable to endure, they died under the
disease. The vessel lay in that perilous position for four
months, drifting to and fro near Cape Comfort ; then driven
by the current of ice along Southampton Island, as far as
Sea Horse Point, off Baffin ; then at the mercy of the wind
and tide, through Hudson's• Straits, by Charles's Island,
along the Labrador coast. On the 6th of August they
passed Resolution Island.
From the 20th of September they lay surrounded, ex-
posed to all the horrors of the arctic climate, with the ther-
mometer 40 degrees below zero, until the ice commenced
breaking in February, 1837. On the 15th of March they
experienced the greatest shock they had yet encountered, a
mountain of ice striking the ship with the utmost violence,
and rending away every intermediate barrier, without the:
slightest perceptible effort. The decks were obliged to be
lashed to each other to prevent them separating, and the
planks rising from their fastenings, the stern-posts, dead
wood, and after-part of the keel were knocked away. In
consequence of the repeated collisions, the water gained on
the ship, and she was shaken from stein to stern ; a chair,
cable was passed round her to keep her together, the Men
constantly at the pumps to keep out the water, which at
one time rose seven feet in the hold. Every exertion was
being made at this time to prevent her falling to pieces—
men and officers all emulous, and working as laboriously as
they could, knowing their safety depended on the result of
their exertions. So unremitting and fatiguing were the toils
they endured, that all were excoriated more or less.
The ship was built purposely for the expedition, being
eight feet in depth through the bow and stern, two feet
seven inches in the sides, with five additional bulkheads
athwart-ships, of four-inch oak planks ; and two extra fore-
and-aft ones of the same thickness, two feet from the side,
each side filled up with 25 tons of coal, for further strength
and security.
By the impetus of the ice the bow was lifted clean out o 1
the water as far aft as the mainmast ; her stern, as far as
the seven-foot mark, was placed in the same predicament.
In this condition she continued for 100 days. At the ex-
piration of that time they got a 35-foot ice-saw, worked by
shears, and commenced the fatiguing operation of cutting
through the bulk of ice under her, measuring in thickness
more than -thirty feet. On the 11th of July they had
completed so much of their task us but two or three feet.
at the stern remained, when she righted. Immediately
on this they made sail on the vessel, but a tremendous
wedge remained stuck to her starboard side, between her
fore and main chains, and they were compelled to have re-
course to the saw again, not being able to free themselves by
any other method. By means of purchases applied to- the
vast lump, it rose from under the bottom as it was freed,
and, according to the laws of gravitation, floated above the
water, being the lighter body, throwing the vessel on her
beam ends, he( hug her over fully 27 degrees, the water
pouring in in alarming quantities, and with frightful rapi-
dity. All hands, without distinction, were immediately
called in requisition ; some proceeded to saw through the
piece of ice, the cause of this fresh misfortune, and some
ran to die pumps. With unremitting labour they conti-
nued these fatiguing but indispensable operations until five
o'clock on the morning of the 14th, when the men were so
totally exhausted and dispirited by their incessant exertions
that they could work no longer, having to this period cut
through to within ten feet. They were then called in for
rest and refreshment. They had not been more than a quar-
ter of an hour removed from the work when a sudden.dis-
ruption of the ice took place, and the mass, separated from
its bed, crashed with terrific violence against the ship's side,.
tearing to pieces the lashings end spars that intervened to
protect her against this casualty, which had, in some degrei
been foreseen ; the strong shores or logs, and three and WI
inch ropes, were snapped like pack-thread ; and, but fo r
the merciful interposition of Providence, not a single
being out of the entire ship's crew, would have lived i:o
narrate the circumstance ; for, had they not been called
iin
but a few minutes before, all inevitably would have been
crushed by the mass of ice on which they had just been
labouring.. As the ice separated from her she righted and
drifted along. A temporary rudder was fitted up, her stern-
posts having been carried away from the six-foot mark, as
well as the dead wood broken off, her stern frame so shaker,
that her run bad to be secured by 2 and 3i inch ropes,
shores, and screw-bolts, and when fairly got to sea, a
stream-chain was passed round her three feet before the
mizen-mast, and another abaft the inizen-mast. In the
early part of the passage home, across the Atlantic, they
fortunately experienced mild weather, but subsequently it
became rather unfiivourable, and the ship began to leak
very fast. At one period, %%hen it became netessary to
take the men from the pumps for about twenty minutes,
during which they were occupied in shortening sail, the car-
penter reported six to seven feet water in the hold. In an
instant there was a rush to the pumps, and all hands were
busily engaged at them until they arrived at their destina-
tion. At first they directed their course to the Orkneys,
but the wind proving adverse they hore up for Lough
Swilly, where they arrived on Sunday night, after hardships
and dangers almost unparalleled. They bad but twice
seen the natives—once on their entrance to the Frozen
Straits, and once at their departure. On both occasions
they trafficked with them, and to profitable account it would
seem, an old piece of iron producing skinS in abundance,
and those Mbo had not this commodity to offer, were
waling to barter their children for even a less article
of value, if possible. When first immured up in the ice, they
got up some plays and masquerades, but the cold and dan-
gers which momentarily threatened them with destruction
put all idea of amusement out of the question, and
as the ship was hourly exposed to shocks that left her con-
tinued safety a matter of the utmost sunrise, the provisions
were kept on deck, and the boats lowered ready for every
emergency. On entering the harbour of Lough Swilly, the
exhausted crew could scarce remain one moment longer at
the pumps, their unremitting labour at which
.hadd secured
their safety. The coast guard, on being apprise of their
distressing condition, iminedietely boarded the vessel, and
afforded most timely relief to the worn-out mariners, and
her Majesty's cutter, ii'ickam, entering soon after, sent 20
of her men for the same purpose. They endeavoured to
beach her, but, unable to effect their purpose, were obliged
to leave her, having her main deck housing thrummed un-
der her bottom. Seven of the sick were sent immediately
on shore, where they are being treated with the utmost hu-
manity and attention by the hospitable and generous islanders.