Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands on board the D.G.S. Neptune, 1903-1904

by A. P. Low

It will be seen from the above description that there is no natural difficulty in the navigation of the bay and strait so far as the depth of water, presence of obstructions and width of channel are concerned, and if situated in a more southern region the route would be an ideal one for the navigator.

The western coast of Hudson bay is low and flat. It rises very slowly inland from swampy shores, while the water deepens slowly, and there are numerous shoals and bars that extend for a considerable distance from the shore-line and render coastwise navigation dangerous. This character of coast extends from the southern end of James bay to beyond the mouth of Churchill harbour. Further north the character of the coast changes somewhat, being still low, but much more uneven in outline, with a corresponding unevenness in the sea-bottom. Beyond Eskimo point, in 61° N. latitude, the straight shores of the southward give place to a ragged coast-line broken by large bays, and fringed with rocky islands having shallow water between them, and a broken bottom very dangerous to navigation. On this account, and because of the danger from outlying shoals and strong currents, the navigation of Chesterfield inlet and that of the other northern bays and harbours is debarred from consideration.

The mouths of all the large rivers to the southward of Churchill are more or less blocked by deposits of sand and clay brought down by the streams and deposited in the quieter waters at their mouths in the form of bars or flat shoals. In consequence of these obstructions, only small craft can enter the harbours inside the mouths of these rivers, and larger ships are obliged to lay in the dangerous roadsteads usually several miles away from the nearest dry land.

The approach to the harbour of Churchill, if aided by a few beacons and lights, would be comparatively safe, as the channel of approach is fairly deep and wide. Once inside the points of the mouth, the harbour extends up stream about a mile, and has an average width of half a mile, with a couple of shallow places in the upper part that might easily be removed by dredging; the general depth of the harbour being from four to four and a half fathoms.

Some knowledge of the currents is desirable in discussing the navigability of Hudson strait and Hudson bay, for on them depend largely the character and amount of ice met with in these northern waters. Observations on the drift of the ice that covers the Arctic seas point to a general law governing the currents. This law, briefly stated, is, that no matter what the size, shape or direction of one of these northern bodies of water may be, the direction of flow of the current will be such that one facing with it will have the land on the right hand. This may be differently stated by saying that with bodies of water having a general north-and-south trend, the current will flow north on the east side and south on the west, while in east-and-west bodies the direction of flow will be west on the north side and east on the south side. This law has been found to apply to the waters of Hudson strait and Hudson bay as well as to those of the more northern bays and straits visited on the Neptune. The mere statement of this law is made here, as the discussion of the causes producing it, be they due to the earth’s motion or wind action, is outside the province of this report.

The current from the eastward along the northern side of Hudson strait was known to the early navigators of those waters, who took advantage of it when passing through the strait from the Atlantic. The presence of icebergs in the northern waters of the strait can only be accounted for by this current, for they must all come from Davis strait, there being no glaciers to produce them on the lands fronting on the strait or bay. These icebergs have been seen as far west as the western end of Salisbury island, almost to the entrance of Hudson bay.

The east-flowing current of the south side of the strait was proved by the drift of the Neptune when beset in the ice off Cape Wolstenholme, and later, off Cape Weggs. In the former instance the drift of the ship was thirty miles in twenty-four hours, while in the latter it was twenty miles in twenty hours. Driftwood borne north on the current of the east side of Hudson bay is not rare on the southern shores of the western part of the strait, while large quantities of it are found on the eastern shores of Ungava bay, having been drifted east and north from the mouths of the rivers emptying into the head of that bay.

The current flowing westward along the north side of the strait sweeps northward up the east side of Fox channel, rounds the head of that large northern bay, and then flows southward along the east side of Southampton, bringing with it the heavy ice from the northern parts of Fox channel, so that heavy drift ice is almost always found to the north of the eastern entrance to Evans strait, and often comes sufficiently south to partly block the channel between Mansfield and Coats islands.

The current from the north along the western shores of Hudson bay is not important as regards navigation, as it comes from the narrow waters of Roes Welcome and does not transport a large quantity of field ice.