RUINS OF FORT PRINCE OF WALES.
The fortress was in the form of a square, with sides three hundred feet long; at the corners were bastions, and on top of the massive stone walls, twenty feet in height by thirty feet in thickness at the base, were mounted forty-two guns. With such a defence one would suppose that Churchill should have been safe from attacking foes, but this does not seem to have been the case, for history informs us that on the 8th of August, 1782, the gallant La Perouse and his three vessels of war, with, it is said, naught but scurvy-smitten crews, made their appearance before the much-amazed garrison of thirty-nine men, and demanded an unconditional surrender, which was granted without resistance, and the gates of the great stone fort thrown open to the invaders. Taking possession, they spiked and dismounted the guns, in places broke down the walls, burned the barracks, and sailed away to France with Hearne, his men, and all their valuable furs.
As La Perouse left the Fort so did we find it. For the most part the walls were still solid, though from between their great blocks of granite the mortar was crumbling. The guns, spiked and dismounted, were still to be seen lying about on the ramparts and among the fallen masonry. In the bastions, all of which were still standing, were to be seen the remains of wells and magazines, and in the centre of the Fort stood the walls of the old building in which Hearne and his men had lived. The charred ends of roof-beams were still attached to its walls, where, undecayed, they had rested for the past one hundred and eleven years.
With a continuous low temperature, such as now existed at Churchill, the ice in the river, much to our satisfaction, began to set fast. This was necessary to enable us to continue the journey. On Saturday, November 4th, the thermometer registered 14½° below zero (Fahr.), and with that temperature the movement of floating ice ceased and the river was bridged from shore to shore. Being anxious to get away as early as possible, arrangements were made with the Company’s agent for a start for York Factory on Monday morning. The assistance of one dog-team, with driver and guide, was with some difficulty secured, but three other teams were to accompany us a great part of the way, viz., to Stony River, where in the month of September the Company’s servants had been obliged to abandon a boat-load of supplies because of severe weather, the month in which we had been canoeing on the coast five hundred miles farther north.
ICE-BLOCK GROUNDED AT LOW TIDE.
A bill of necessary supplies was prepared, and these were weighed out and put into sacks. Men and teams were sent off to obtain a supply of dog-meat—an indispensable commodity—from a shanty on the south side of the river. When they reached the place they found it in possession of five polar bears—three large ones and two cubs. Along with the dog-meat were brought back the skins of one old bear and the two cubs. During Sunday the thermometer fell to 21° below zero, making the river-ice strong and perfectly safe.