Arctic Exploration: 1856 (Nov.15th) 8-page letter from Admiral Sir George Back regarding the design of the Arctic Medal; retrieving the original sketch of 'Hms Investigator making the Nw Passage' from Leonard Charles Wyon; receiving a pocket compass & case of instruments from Princess Victoria prior to his 1834 Arctic Expedition. The Arctic Medal was instituted in 1857, and was presented twice in the 19th century. Firstly to the men who engaged in a search expedition to discover the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew who were lost while looking for the Northwest Passage in 1847. The second presentation of the Arctic Medal was to the crews of three ships exploring the Arctic in 1875-76. The die for the medal was engraved by Leonard Charles Wyon]. Admiral Sir George Back Frs (1796-1878) was a British naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic, naturalist and artist. He was appointed to command a search expedition for Sir John Ross, but after hearing news of Ross’ safe return, decided to undertake an exploratory mission. Back led his own expedition in 1834 to complete the survey of the north coast of America, and explore the 500 mile course of the Great Fish River, which was later renamed the Back River in his honour. In 1836-37 he led the Frozen Strait Expedition in Hms Terror to map the uncharted northern part of Hudson Bay