Notes on Chapter XVI.—Of Baffin’s Land, Dr. Bell, who personally explored Hudson Bay in 1885 for the Dominion Government, says: “These ancient grounds probably contain rich placer gold in the valleys of the streams.” The mica mines of Baffin’s Land were being mined in 1906.
The name of the captain, who perished with Knight, is our friend Bailey of the Iberville siege; not Barlow, as all modern histories copying from Hearne and 1749 Parl. Report give. The minutes of the H. B. C. show that Barlow is a misprint for Berley, and Berley for Bailey, which name is given repeatedly in the minutes in connection with this voyage.
The account of Bering’s efforts to find the Straits of Anian and of his similar fate will be found in “Vikings of the Pacific.”
All the printed accounts of Knight’s disaster say he wintered at Churchill in 1719-20. This is wrong, as shown by the unprinted records of H. B. C. He sailed at once for the North. All printed accounts—except Hearne’s—give the place of disaster as the west end of Marble Island. This is a mistake. It was at the east end as given in the French edition of Hearne. Hearne it is, who gives the only account of Bailey’s defense of Albany in 1704, only Hearne calls Bailey, Barlow, which the records show to be wrong.
An almost Parallel wreck to that of Knight’s took place at Gull Island off Newfoundland twenty-five years ago. A whole shipload of castaways perished on a barren island in sight of their own harbor lights, only in the case of Gull Island, the castaways did not survive longer than a few weeks. They lived under a piece of canvas and subsisted on snow-water.