BACK, SIR GEORGE (1796-1878) British sailor, was born Nov. 6, 1796, at Stockport in Cheshire, and died in London on June 23, 1878. At the age of 12 he was a midshipman on the "Arethusa" and was captured by the French at Deba, in the Spanish campaign of 1809. On his return to England in 1814, after a long imprisonment in France, Back served on the "Akbar" against the French in North America. In 1818 he sailed with Buchan on a voyage to Spitsbergen, after which he joined Frank lin's expedition to the Coppermine river in North America (1819 22), and to the Mackenzie river (1825-27). In 1833 Back offered to lead an expedition to the Arctic regions in search of Captain Ross, of whom there had been no news since 1829. The expedition wintered at Fort Reliance, near the Great Slave lake, where, in April 1834, news of the arrival of Ross in England reached Back; but the party proceeded to explore the Great Fish river (also known as the Back river), tracing it to its mouth in the polar sea. On his return in Oct. 1835, Back received the medal of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1836 he set forth on a new Polar expedition in the "Terror" intending to explore the remainder of the coastline of North America, but for four months the ship was icebound in Frozen channel, and he could not return until Sept. 1837. Ill-health, the result of continual strain, prevented Back's further activity and he retired on half-pay. In 1838 he was made a baronet. He wrote a Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the mouth of the Great Fish River . . . (1836), and also, Narrative of an expedition in H.M.S. Terror . . . in 1836-37 (1838).
or BACK-LETTER, in Scots law, a deed quali fying the terms of another deed, or declaratory of the purposes for which another deed has been granted. Thus an ex facie abso lute disposition, qualified by a back-bond expressing the limited nature of the right actually held by the person to whom the disposition is made, would constitute what in England is termed a deed of trust. This qualifying secondary instrument is not un common in other countries, e.g., Argentina, C.C. 1030.