Part 6
August _9th_.—The day had just began to dawn, when an animal was observed swimming near the ship: we at first conjectured it to be a seal, and accordingly sent a quarter-master over the ice, to knock it on the head, if it attempted to get upon it; but the man was fain to make a rapid retreat, when he discovered the form of a prodigious bear emerging from the water. This enormous creature came close to the ship’s head; and had I been armed with a pistol only, it would have been easy to have dispatched him; but during the time we were all bustling for a musquet, the bear marched up the field of ice. Mr. _Wells_, a young midshipman, and myself, instantly pursued him, by different routes; but the grey of the twilight was favourable to him; and his hide being but a shade or two deeper than the ice itself, he escaped unseen. We afterwards traced his footsteps to the edge of the ice, opposite the spot where he landed, and he must therefore have replunged into the sea from that place. I mention this circumstance to shew in what manner these animals contrive to procure subsistence: they swim, during the night, in the quiet manner now described; and drawing close to a piece of ice, they immediately smell if there be any seals upon the top of it; in which case they ascend gently on the opposite side, and suddenly springing upon the sleeping seal, they instantly tear it in pieces.—As this proved to be a fine day, we drew our seamen out upon the ice, and exercised them by firing at a target. Towards evening the ice began to loosen considerably.
August _10th_.—A fine day; but the ice still close. Wind remains at N. W. During the last twenty-four hours, the _Eddystone_ again appeared in sight; and towards evening, she again neared us considerably. We believed this to be owing to her having got into a southerly current. Our latitude this day was 62°. 50′. N.; and at night-fall the thermometer stood at 28°.
August _11th_.—At 4 A.M. ungrappled, and got under sail, with a fair wind, running a zig-zag course amongst the ice; the ship, at intervals, striking excessively hard. Towards evening, we again grappled to a piece of ice; and, upon inspection, we found several more trunnels started, and the ship much shaken, by her repeated blows. The Admiralty must certainly have been deceived by the _Hudson’s-Bay_ Company, respecting a Voyage to _Hudson’s Bay_; or they certainly would never have sent a ship of war to perform it, without previously strengthening her for the occasion. It is exceedingly dangerous for any ship to attempt a passage through the sea of ice in _Hudson’s Straits_, unless her bows be doubled with oak-plank and heavy blocks of wood, bolted to each side of her cutwater; as the floating masses of ice may be considered so many _rocks of crystal_.
This day, in a vacancy between the ice, we saw the first regular whale. On his second rising to blow, I discharged a load of small shot into his back; at which, however, he did not even seem to feel the least annoyance, though we saw him no more.
August _12th_.—At day-light, ungrappled, with a light wind at south; but, to our great mortification, we were again obliged to anchor, at noon, to a field of ice about half a mile long; and both the other ships made fast to the same piece, so that we could walk across the ice to visit each other. Our people were immediately set to work; and in three hours’ time, we had filled fifty-six casks with snow-water, from a large pond on the ice. We had _Charles’ Island_ in sight, bearing W. N. W. about nine leagues distant. This small island is on the southern shore of the Straits, in the narrowest part; the channel there not being above twenty miles broad. _Charles’ Island_ lies about twenty-one leagues to the west of _Lady Lake’s Inlet_; and hence the ships leave the northern shore, and steer for the south end of _Salisbury Island_, lying off Cape Diggs, at the western extremity of _Hudson’s Straits_.
The ice continuing very close all around us, we were compelled to remain in this situation, without ungrappling, for five days; in which nothing occurred worthy of notice.
August _17th_.—In the morning, we were opposite a deep inlet, called _Prince of Wales’s Sound_, on the southern shore of the Straits, which has never been explored. All this coast, as well as the northern shore, is fringed with islands; the principal of which are called _King George_, _Prince of Wales_, _Maiden’s Paps_, and _Mannil’s Islands_; and they doubtless afford shelter to many fine harbours.
August _18th_.—We did not grapple during the night, but hove to, for about two hours, whilst it continued dark; and at day-light we again bore up, and continued running through loose ice. Towards noon it fell nearly calm: we observed seven large seals, basking on a piece of ice; but as soon as we approached them in a boat, they rolled into the water, and disappeared. We were visited by two _Esquimaux_ in the afternoon: they had nothing remarkable about them, except that their mustachios were rather more bushy than those we had seen before. In the evening it fell quite calm, and we grappled.
August _19th_.—During the night, the other ships had fallen considerably to the eastward; but the wind coming round to the south-west, we ungrappled, and waited for their coming up. _Queen Anne’s Foreland_, a high cape on the north shore, bore E. N. E. nine leagues; and although at so great distance, we were visited by three canoes of _Esquimaux_, bringing their usual commodities for traffic. Our latitude this day was observed to be 63°. 38′. N.; longitude, 72°. 45′. W. We grappled again in the evening, and lay so until—
August _21st_.—At 2 A.M. was presented one of those awful appearances which are so common in these hyperborean regions. The water, for some distance around the ship, had, for a time, been partially cleared of the ice; when, on a sudden, a noise was heard like very distant thunder, and the crackling of falling beams in some immense conflagration. The loose ice, which had appeared so distant before, now approached on all sides with an unusual rapidity; the pieces driving one over another in their course, and seeming to menace the destruction of our ship. In ten minutes we were completely hemmed in, on all sides; and a person might travel for miles over a space which had just before been an expanse of water. The ice must have been forced together by some extraordinary meeting of the currents, as there was but a slight breeze at the moment.
At noon, the wind became fair: we ungrappled, and steered through loose weighty ice until 8 P.M. when a thick fog came on, and we again grappled for the night. About 10 P.M. the deep darkness of the sky was suddenly changed to a bright twilight; and having continued so for about five minutes, it again relapsed into its former gloom. This singular appearance was occasioned by a streamer of the _aurora borealis_ bursting through the thick fog which surrounded us.—Thermometer 29°.
During our stay in _Hudson’s Bay_, and upon our voyage home from thence, our nights were constantly illuminated by the most vivid and brilliant coruscations of the _aurora borealis_. Its appearance was very different from that which I have seen in more southern latitudes; resembling continual jets of meteoric fire from the northern part of the horizon, which, after darting upwards in long streamers towards the zenith, suddenly collapsed, and receded; falling back, in zig-zag, serpentine lines, with diminished splendour; and ultimately dying away, and vanishing from the sight; being succeeded by other jets, as beautiful as the first. The _Cree Indians_ inhabiting _Hudson’s Bay_, and indeed the _European_ traders there, maintain, that, in the serene stillness of their severe winters, a soft rushing noise constantly accompanies these coruscations, like that which is occasioned by the quick waving of a _fan_, or of a _winnow_. The same remarkable circumstance is mentioned by _Hearne_, who bears positive testimony to the fact. “I can positively affirm,” says he[21], “that in still nights I have frequently heard the _northern lights_ make a rustling and crackling noise, like the waving of a large flag in a fresh gale of wind. This is not peculiar to the place of which I am now writing (_the Athapusco Lake_), as I have heard the same noise very plain at _Churchill River_: and, in all probability, it is only for want of attention that it has not been heard in every part of the northern hemisphere, where these lights have been known to shine with any considerable degree of lustre.”
August _22d_.—Early in the morning we again ungrappled. The reader of this Journal may easily conceive that, by this time, our impatience was at its height, as we had now been nearly a month incessantly occupied in endeavouring to push our ship through the never-ending drifts of ice in _Hudson’s Straits_. I shall not, therefore, attempt to describe the joy of every person on board, when at 8 A.M. we emerged into an open sea, and, the wind blowing tolerably fresh, at ten we passed by _Charles’ Island_. At noon, we had lost sight of both land and ice; and we now sailed forwards at a great rate, with both our ships in company. Towards night-fall, we passed by a low level island, called _Salisbury Island_, which lies at the entrance of _Hudson’s Bay_.
August _23d_.—In the morning, passed to the southward of _Nottingham_, a long rocky island, lying north of _Cape Diggs_. I know not if _Salisbury_ and _Nottingham Islands_ are inhabited by the _Esquimaux_; but it is natural to suppose that this people visit them occasionally, during their periodical voyages. At 8 A.M. we were off _Cape Walsingham_, which is only remarkable for its being the north-west promontory of _Labrador_, and having a string of small islands running from it towards the sea.
In the afternoon, the _Eddystone_ parted company; as that ship was bound for _Moose Factory_, at the southernmost extremity of the bay; whilst we intended to proceed with the _Prince of Wales_ to _York Factory_, on the western side. And now, having brought the ship safely through these formidable Straits, and conducted her into the immense gulf of _Hudson’s Bay_, we will leave her for a while to pursue her voyage, and take an excursion round the _Bay_, in order to give some short description of its factories, inhabitants, &c.
Amongst the many adventurous naval enterprises which reflect such lustre upon the last years of Queen _Elizabeth_, and the beginning of the reign of _James_ the _First_, none, perhaps, can surpass, in intrepidity and perseverance, the voyages of _Henry Hudson_; undertaken for the express purpose of effecting a north-west passage to the _Pacific Ocean_. All that I have been able to collect respecting this brave but unfortunate man is, that he sailed in the year 1610, and discovered the Straits which now bear his name. He boldly pushed his way through them; and finding that, after a length of six hundred miles, he emerged into an open sea, his heart beat high with exultation on having, as he doubtless imagined, succeeded in discovering that famous passage for which so many had sought in vain[22]. Sailing forward, therefore, four hundred miles towards the west, his disappointment was great, at finding himself suddenly stopped, in the midst of his career, by an unknown coast, extending (as has since been ascertained) from 51° to 63° N. latitude. However, the spirit of _Hudson_ was not easily checked; and, astonishing as it may appear, he determined on remaining the whole winter on this dreary coast, so that he might be able to prosecute his voyage early in the ensuing spring. After suffering innumerable hardships, this daring adventurer sailed, early in the next year, towards the north, in search of the much-wished-for outlet to the _Pacific_; but his crew, not feeling the same enthusiasm which animated their leader, and greatly fearing lest his ardent thirst for discovery might expose them to the horrors of another winter, or, what was still worse, to the chance of perishing amidst the terrific mountains of ice with which they saw themselves to be surrounded, they accordingly proceeded from murmurs to open mutiny; and having turned the heroic _Hudson_ adrift in a small boat, together with the few who adhered to his fortune, they basely left their leader to perish, and sailed away for _England_, where they arrived in safety. As for the unhappy Captain, I grieve to add, that he was never afterwards heard of: neither have we the poor consolation of knowing that his murderers met with the punishment due to their inhuman crime. There can be no doubt that _Hudson’s Bay_ would have remained much longer unexplored, had it not so happened that the winter preceding the year in which the discovery was made must have been remarkably mild; consequently, _Hudson_ could not have met with many obstacles in passing through the Straits;—no seaman would have endeavoured to penetrate farther, if he had found them so completely blocked up with ice as to impede a ship’s progress, even with the advantage of a favourable wind attending her;—and that this was the case with us, will appear evident, from a perusal of the preceding part of this Journal.
The _Hudson’s-Bay_ Company’s charter is said to confirm to that body the whole and sole right of trading with the _Indians_, within the limits of _Hudson’s Straits_; and they have no less than six factories established at the mouths of as many different rivers, which empty themselves into the Bay. The northernmost of these factories is called _Churchill_: it stands on the west side of the Bay, in latitude 58°. 50′. N.; longitude, 93°. 4′. W. The port is tolerably good, and ships of any size may anchor in it. At the entrance is a danger, called _Cape Mary’s Rock_; but it is easily to be avoided. On entering _Churchill River_, ships pass between two points of land. One of them forms a sort of peninsula; and it has a large strong fort of stone upon it, the erection of which is said to have cost the _Hudson’s-Bay_ Company 30,000_l._: it was formerly mounted with twenty 32-pound guns. The opposite Cape (_Mary_) has also a small battery, which formerly had six guns on it; yet, with the most culpable pusillanimity, did the traveller _Hearne_ (who acted as chief at that time) yield this strong position to the _French_ Admiral _La Perouse_, without so much as attempting a defence; who, in the year 1782, spiked the cannon, and destroyed the factory. Since that time, the fortifications of _Churchill_ have been suffered to remain in their present dilapidated state; and, as a trifling security against any sudden invasion in future, the new factory was erected at a short distance higher up the river. It is matter of surprise, that the Company do not repair the large stone fort, which is made uncommonly strong, both by nature and by art. As it stands upon the extremity of a peninsula, a body of men passing the isthmus to attack it by land, would be completely exposed to the enfilading fire of the fort. It would be difficult also for an enemy to force the gates, because there is a small half-moon battery built on that side, expressly for their defence. Besides, there are dwelling-houses in the interior of the fort, sufficiently large for the reception of the whole factory.
The shore about _Churchill River_ is high and rocky, producing only a very few insignificant trees and shrubs. Farther north, towards the country of the _Esquimaux_, this small vestige of vegetation dwindles away even to a simple bush or two, and these are only to be found at a considerable distance from each other.
Proceeding southward, towards a more genial country, we arrive at _York Factory_, standing upon low swampy ground, completely covered with wood: its latitude is 57°. 2′. N.; longitude 92°. 40′. W. This place was also visited by the _French_ in 1782, who burnt the factory, and destroyed a small battery at the entrance of _Hayes’ River_. But _Perouse_ was grievously disappointed in the chief object of his voyage: and as it is so intimately connected with the subject on which I am writing, perhaps it will not be thought improper to describe the disappointment which the _French_ suffered in the expedition; particularly as the fitting-out of the squadron must have cost the _French_ nation much money; and their burning a few miserable mart-houses in _Hudson’s Bay_ could only injure individuals, and most probably was not felt at all by the public.
_Perouse_ entered _Hudson’s Bay_ in 1782, having under his command a line-of-battle ship and two large frigates. With this force he of course insured the capture of the annual ships, together with their rich cargo of furs, oil, &c.; and as the escape of the three ships does high honour to the skill and intrepidity of their commanders, it is well worthy of notice. The ship which was bound to _Churchill_, was commanded by Captain _Christopher_; and the _French_ admiral fell in with her at sea, just previous to her arrival at that place. A frigate was immediately dispatched in pursuit; but the night drawing on apace, Captain _Christopher_ resolved on a bold manœuvre, which he accordingly carried into execution with great success. Perceiving that the _Frenchman_ was ignorant of the coast, and, by his following the _English_ ship, that he was determined to govern his own vessel by her motions,—whereby he hoped to avoid all danger, and in the end secure his prize,—Captain _Christopher_ sent his men aloft, and furled his sails, pretending to come to an anchor. The enemy immediately conjectured that it would be dangerous for him to proceed farther; therefore he directly brought his frigate to anchor in reality. Captain _Christopher_ rejoiced that his deception had so far succeeded to his wishes; and he made sail to sea with the greatest dispatch. Night coming on, and the _Frenchman_ being a long time in getting up his anchor, the _Englishman_ was soon out of sight, and escaped in safety to the northward. Fired with this disappointment, _Perouse_ burnt the factory; and proceeded to _York_, to secure the other ship, then lying at that place, under the command of Captain _Fowler_. As there was not depth of water sufficient for his ships to enter _York_, he anchored in _Nelson River_, and made every disposition for an attack upon the ship and factory by the dawn of the next day; but, to his utter mortification, he found in the morning that the bird had taken wing;—for Captain _Fowler_ had perceived three large ships at anchor in _Nelson River_ the evening before, and, wisely conjecturing that they could have no good intentions towards him, put to sea during the night. _Perouse_ dispatched a fast-sailing frigate in search of him, which soon had sight of the runaway; but Captain _Fowler_ finding the _Frenchman_ to have much superiority in point of speed, tacked about, and stood in for the land to the south of _York_, hoping thereby to entice the _Frenchman_ into shallow water: the enemy, however, discovering his design, and fearing lest, in further pursuit, he might incur the risk of shipwreck, put off to sea; and Captain _Fowler_ pursued his voyage to _England_ in safety. The season was too far advanced to attempt any other exploit; and having therefore burnt the factory at _York_, _Perouse_ returned to _Europe_; highly chagrined, no doubt, at being thus foiled by a pair of _English_ sailors, and at having failed of success in the principal aim of his expedition. As there are many shoals and dangerous rocks in _James’ Bay_[23], he did not think fit to send a ship to destroy the southern settlements: and to the credit of this unfortunate navigator, I must state, that he publickly averred, if he had been aware of the factories being the property of individuals, he would assuredly have quitted them without molestation. It is remarkable that the Bay ship (as she is called) got safe to _Moose Factory_, and returned to _England_, without being at all aware how very narrowly she must have escaped falling into the hands of the enemy.
The next factory to the south of _York_ is called _Severn_; but the shore at this place runs off much too shoal to allow a ship to approach the coast; therefore a schooner of about eighty tons is employed to take the furs to _York_, and to bring back the necessary supplies. This is also the case with _Albany_, the next factory towards the south; except that the latter place sends its furs, &c. to _Moose_, instead of _York Factory_.
At the very bottom or southernmost part of _Hudson’s Bay_, which is styled _James’s Bay_, we arrive at _Moose Factory_; standing, like all the rest, on a river, bearing the same name. This place has a good anchorage, and the climate is milder than in any of the other factories. It is annually visited by a ship from _England_; as at _Moose_ the furs are collected together from the lesser mart-houses of _Albany_, _East Main_, and _Richmond_, for the purpose of being shipped off to _Europe_. We must now proceed round the bottom of the Bay;—and the next settlement is at _East Main River_, nearly opposite to the western shore of _Labrador_. The factory was established at this place for the purpose of trading with the natives of that vast peninsula; but their internal mart-houses verge generally towards the south, and the marten skins from this factory are said to be the finest in quality of any which are received from _Hudson’s Bay_. The inhabitants around this settlement are a roving race of people, styled, by the _Europeans_, _Mountain Indians_, to distinguish them from the _Esquimaux_, who inhabit the sea-coast to the northward.
At some distance to the north of _East Main_ is a bight, called _Richmond Bay_: here is a house belonging to the Company, but not a permanent establishment; as the people who arrive from _East-Main Factory_ in the spring, return again to that place in the fall of the year, to remain for the winter. The annual voyages to _Richmond_ are undertaken for the purpose of procuring oil, as there is a good white-whale fishery in this Bay. The white whale[24] is not much larger than a first-rate porpoise; neither does it yield any whalebone fit for use: but the oil is nearly equal in value to that of the seal; and it was sold in _England_, in the year 1813, at fifty-six pounds a ton. The fish itself is perfectly white.
There is also a small whale fishery at _Churchill Factory_, but it is not very productive: perhaps it would be more advantageous for the Company if they were to convert the remains of it into a new fishing establishment in some more efficient situation.
I have now reached that part of my Journal which I before alluded to, as being the most proper place to introduce the account of the disastrous termination of two attempts made by the _Hudson’s-Bay Company_ to settle a permanent white-whale fishery at _Richmond Bay_.