Columbus and Other Heroes of American Discovery

by N. D'Anvers

Now, as we know, the French, who claimed all lands from Canada to the Pacific seaboard on the west, and to the Arctic circle on the north, had already penetrated to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and up the Saskatchewan to the Rocky Mountains. From the first, therefore, the new corporation, known as the Hudson’s Bay Company, found itself face to face with a formidable rival, and, to the great disappointment of its founders, the men who were sent out to develop the resources of the newly-obtained territories showed themselves altogether unworthy of the trust reposed in them. A brisk trade was carried on with the Canadians in the ordinary necessaries of life, but there was a total absence alike of mercantile enterprise and geographical zeal.

Not until 1721, some years after the claims of France to Canada had been finally abandoned, in fulfillment of the conditions of the Treaty of Utrecht, was any real effort at exploration made. At that date, however, a certain John Knight, governor of one of the forts of the Company, heard from some natives of a rich copper-mine in the north, and begged his superiors to fit out an expedition, with him as its leader, for the discovery alike of the mine and the Straits of Anian. It was now the turn of the Company itself to show lukewarmness in the good cause. Prince Rupert, who had been the very mainspring of the corporation, had long been dead; his successors did not care to risk their capital in any scheme of which the success was not fully secured.

“But,” urged Knight, “the charter by virtue of which you exist made the search for a north-west passage, and one to the Pacific from the East, absolutely compulsory; if you decline to allow me to make such search, I will appeal to the King, who will doubtless withdraw his letters patent if you neglect their conditions.”

Unable to shake the position taken up by their importunate servant, the Hudson’s Bay Company at last roused itself from its lethargy, and fitted out two vessels, which they placed under the naval direction of Captains Barlow and Vaughan, who were, however, to consult Knight as to their route.

Full of eager delight at this, as he thought, complete realization of his hopes, poor Knight started on his voyage; but of that voyage no record has ever been obtained. A year passed by, and there came no message to his employers; two years, and still not a word from him. Search expeditions were now sent out, but they were either unskillfully or negligently conducted, and not until forty long years had gone by was the sad truth revealed.

In 1767, two whaling vessels, cruising about the now well-known passage of the Welcome, came to the entrance of a harbor never before noticed, and, entering it, their captains and crews were astonished to find its shores strewn with guns, anchors, and other European relics. When they landed to examine this phenomenon, further evidence of the place having been the scene of a great catastrophe was found in the ruins of a house, and a little later in the discovery of the remains of ships under water. There could be little doubt now that Knight and all the members of his expedition had met their death at the very commencement of their journey; and, two years later, the explorer Hearne met some natives near the Welcome, who told him how, long years before, some white men like himself had come in two ships, and, landing, put together a wonderful house, the pieces of which they had brought with them. These white men, added the Esquimaux, soon became sick, and though they went on working all the same, most of them died. In the winter, the survivors were glad to buy train-oil, blubber, and seal-flesh, as all their own provisions failed them; and some of them, who had been a long time without food, died of eating too greedily of the strange diet supplied to them. In the following spring, but five remained alive, and these died one by one, the last survivor falling over the last but one in a vain attempt to dig his grave.

As may be supposed, the news of this awful catastrophe, of which the worst horrors were probably even then unknown, did not encourage further efforts on the desolate northern shores of Hudson’s Bay. Before the sad fate of Knight and his comrades was discovered, however, several attempts were made at the navigation of the various rivers flowing from the west into the vast inland sea, with a view to ascertaining if any of them led to the Pacific Ocean. In 1737, a Captain Middleton entered the mouth of Churchill River (N. lat. 56°, W. long. 30°), spent the winter on its shores, and in the ensuing spring sailed through the Welcome, up the Wager Sound, opening on to it on the west, and thence by way of the northern inlet of the Welcome, into Fox’s Channel, thus completing the circuit of the bay all but accomplished by his predecessors, Fox and James.

Convinced that no passage from Hudson’s Bay existed on the west, Middleton returned to England to announce that conviction, but all his assertions were met with scorn; and, a few years later, yet another fleet, this time under the command of Captains Moore and Smith, started in the vain quest. Hudson’s Straits were entered in July, 1746, and the northern half of the bay being found impassable from ice, it was resolved to winter at the mouth of Nelson’s River (N. lat. 56° 35′, W. long. 95°), and start on the exploring expedition early in the ensuing year.

SLEDGE-DRIVING.