[This document is annotation to the author's transcription of Charles Dickens's "The Lost Arctic Voyagers" (1854).]
By "RICHARDSON, and BACK" we are to understand what is undoubtedly a topical allusion to Sir John Richardson (1787-1865), Scottish naturalist and through his practice as ship�s surgeon in the Royal Navy, arctic explorer (who served on the expeditions led by Sir William Parry and Sir John Franklin, 1819-22 and 1825-27), and Sir George Back (1796-1878), the English polar explorer who sailed with Franklin three times (1819, 1819-25, and 1822-27) and searched for the "lost" expeditions of Sir John Ross (from 1833-35) and Sir John Franklin. He was knighted in 1839, and elevated to the rank of admiral in 1857.
[Back to the text of Dickens's "The Lost Arctic Voyagers"]
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References
Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ed. Una McGovern. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2003.
Last modified 8 July 2004