Samuel Hearne
1745 - 1792
Samuel Hearne, the first white man to reach the Arctic coast proving the Northwest Passage was only a myth. Samuel Hearne has been credited with other accomplishments as well. They are:
Samuel Hearne was born in 1745. His father was Samuel Hearne Senior and his mother was Diana. His father passed away at age 40 leaving his wife to raise Samuel 3 years old and Sarah 5 years old. In 1753, Samuel was sent to Tucker's Grammar school. Samuel was tractable and generally acceded to the wishes of others but he did not enjoy school. He studied and was quick to learn, but dreamed of going to the sea. He excelled in sports and was quite good at drawing in pencil. In 1756, Samuel was accepted as a midshipman in the Royal Navy under the naval commander Hood. (Samuel was only 11 years old at this time) Samuel's time with Hood taught him much about living and formed many of the traits that made him the man he was to become later. He did not enjoy the cruder pleasures pursued by his shipmates - bear-baiting, drunkenness and brawling. The sight of suffering made him ill. At the age of 11 Samuel was thrust into the blood and violence of the Seven Years' War. The Treaty of Paris, 1763, closed the Seven Years' War and ended Samuel's naval career. He had grown from a small, timid 11 year old boy into an eighteen year old handsome, powerful built man with a gentle nature. He preferred persuasion to force and hating violence and suffering and bloodshed, often lashed out in verbal fury on the subject. He loved good food but could do without it; he was fond of the Revolutionary clothes of the period but could not be called a fop; he enjoyed companions but they must be "thinkers"; he took pleasure in social events but always remembered they were only social events; and he was possessed of a stubborn determination to "make a name for himself". Most of all Samuel Hearne was endowed with an intense curiosity. Nothing escaped his attention; animals, topography, and flowers, tribal customs, primitive philosophies, and mankind, either individual or collective, were a never ending source of interest. His meekness often led to indecision and inaction while he secretly nursed a good opinion of his own ability; he tolerated action in others, which endangered his own objectives and the lives of his own race, with a blind devotion to his command. On February 12, 1766, Samuel Hearne was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. He arrived at the Company post , Prince of Wales Fort, at the mouth of the Churchill River on the west side of Hudson Bay, in August. No explorer in the New World ever entrusted his life so completely to the natives as did Samuel Hearne. Equipped with a shaving kit, an extra shirt, and a superb faith in his own destiny, Samuel began his exploration to prove there was no Strait of Anián or Northwest Passage. without any other help other than what he could induce the Indians to give by friendly persuasion. Two distinct tribes of Indians frequented Prince of Wales Fort and the hinterland: the Northern or Chipewyans, and the Southern, or Home Guards. The name Chipewyan meaning "pointed skins," was given the Northern Indians by the Home Guards because of the way the former dried their beaver pelts. The Chipewyans called themselves "Dinnae" and the Home Guards were actually "Cree" (a branch of the Algonquins). The Cree were hired as hunters, for some types of common labour, and for general utility help in and around the Fort. They often gave up their way of life and became more or less permanent residents at the Hudson Bay Factories. The Chipewyans were too proud to become paid hunters. They came to the factory with their pelts and bartered these for Indian trade goods which they often took to the interior and resold. They furnished guide services and acted as liaisons between the Company and the tribes further inland. The 2 tribes were not on friendly terms. The Home Guards feared the Chipewyans. The Chipewyans were full of contradictions, from childlike beliefs to sophisticated and even cynical philosophies and customs. Samuel was able to identify with them as he too was essentially contradictory. They were generally a mild and peaceful people except for their everlasting hatred of the Eskimos. They blamed them for conjuring whenever an important Chipewyan died. Hudson's Bay Company factories were both commercial and military in nature and were the centers for every facet of life in the northern American wilderness. When Europeans came to North America they were trying, for the fist time in history, to invade, conquer, and live in an unorganized frontier void. No place in North America more graphically illustrates this unorganized, empty, frontier than the hinterland of the Hudson's Bay Company posts on the western shore of the Hudson Bay. Here were no roads, no courts, no husbandry, no temples to desecrate, no consecrated grounds of the dead, no man-made supplies of food or water; no inhabitants to enslave or rape, no domestic animals, no place to buy or even steal the necessities of life. The Company posts represented:
In Hearne's first two years at Prince of Wales Fort, he was kept busy with "shop keeping", the same task he had joined the navy to escape doing. He was bored and had little interest in his job. He also detested Moses Norton, the Governor of Prince of Wales Fort. Norton was described as being a moral dwarf but a mental giant. He was a brutal and evil man but also had courage and vision. Three seemingly disconnected events favoured Hearne's fortune:
These events combined to give Hearne his chance. Moses Norton permitted him to study with Wales, who set up his equipment on the parapets of the fort; there was new hope for discovering Anián; and Norton suddenly took such an intense interest in copper that he decided to go to England himself and present a new plan, namely, that the Company finance an expedition by land to locate the copper mines. This was a new approach. The home office agreed to finance a very small expedition, preferably one man, who was to live and travel with the Indians and by their sufferance, make what progress he could. On May 25, 1769, Hearne received a letter from London giving him his heart's desire. He was to travel overland, with assistance from the Chipewyans, to discover the existence or lack of, of the Strait of Anián. He was the perfect choice. He had learned that to survive, especially in the North, one must know when to compromise and when to fight, and his "fighting" became a quiet, determination to do a given task regardless of obstacles or previous failures. He had a gentle, personal courage that some mistook for cowardice. He rarely boasted but he could back his words with deeds. Samuel Hearne does not shine as a glittering leader but he was diligent and thorough. Even though he was a mixture of indecision and persistence, he usually came out on top. Her was not a trained explorer but he was a natural and keen observer. In the past, the explorers for the Northwest Passage had been met with appalling losses and deprivation and no success. Now the Company was encouraging Samuel Hearne to leave Churchill, alone, in midwinter and head into the Arctic night without any human help or supplies except what he could get from the frozen land and the Chipewyans. It was the first week in November of 1769 that saw Samuel Hearne sorting out a handful of trade goods - ammunition, useful iron work, tobacco, and a few knives. He had an outline map covering twelve degrees of latitude north and thirty degrees of longitude west of Churchill on which he "sketched West coast of Bay on it, but left the interior blank, to be filled up during my journey"; there were small maps of one degree on which to put each day's travel; and he would write a daily log for the interested public. "I took only the shirt and clothes I then had on, one spare coat, a pair of drawers, and as much cloth as would make me two or three pairs of Indian stockings, which, together with a blanket for bedding, composed the whole of my stock of clothing." Moses Norton, using his authority as Chief Factor at the fort, overrode the Company's suggestion of a one-man expedition and assigned William Isbester and Thomas Merriman to accompany him. Hearne knew that most of his work would be done regardless of day or dark. The Indians ate when they had food, slept when they were sleepy, and traveled when they chose. Hearne was unaware of the magnitude of the task he had undertaken. No one knew the expanse of North America or where the Arctic was. Less than two weeks away from Churchill Hearne faced starvation and death by exposure. On November 20th the Indians found a small strand of trees and water. The women fished and the men hunted and killed three deer. The food only lasted three meals and they survived on one-half partridge per person per day after that. The Chipewyans wanted to return to Prince of Wales Fort, but Hearne refused. Several Indians deserted during the night. Once again the Chipewyans suggested they return to the Fort and again Hearne refused. The Chipewyan leader dropped all pretense, tossed the few remaining supplies at Hearne, told him what direction the Seal River was and left. Hearne, Isbester, and Merriman were left two hundred miles from home on their own, in late November, in the Arctic. Faced with his first defeat Hearne lightened the loads of his companions and tramped southeast. On December 1, Hearne, Isbester, and Merriman reached the Seal River and by chance met another group of Chipewyans and were invited to accompany them on a beaver hunt. On December 11, 1769, the group straggled into the Fort. The one Chipewyan who had accompanied them, demanded payment for the food they had eaten on the beaver hunt. This was to be the ignoble end of Hearne's first Coppermine Expedition. An immediate second expedition was proposed by Hearne and agreed upon by Norton.The recent arrival of a band of Chipewyans at Prince of Wales Fort helped to solve the Indian guide problem. Conne-e-quese said he would be pleased to act as a guide as he had been very near the copper mines. Isbester volunteered to go again but Merriman pleaded a "cold" and asked to be excused. Hearne refused to have either, stating them to both be useless and preferring to do without white companionship. On February 23, 1770, Samuel Hearne accompanied by three Chipewyans and two Home Guard Indians left the Fort with a single leather tent, homemade sleds, a Hadley quadrant, a cheap gun each, a few trade trinkets, and a lot of stubborn determination to find the Coppermine and Anián. Hearne, now knowing what he was up against, decided that their best chance for survival would come with following the rivers whenever possible. With this strategy in mind, they made a fifty mile detour around Button Bay to reach the Seal River. They followed the Seal River for ninety miles and experienced storms for days. The storms became worse and even the Indians refused to travel in them. They were forced to huddle together inside the one tent and wait out the weather. Two weeks after leaving the Fort they were once again without food. On March 8th they were able to make it to a small lake and set up nets through the ice for fishing. Trout and pike were plentiful and the Indians wanted to make camp until the geese arrived around May 15th. If they waited until good weather they could cut almost due north over the Barren Grounds. Hearne agreed and a semipermanent camp was made just below 59° north and 98 ° west (western end of Shethanei Lake). A wrap around tent made from moose hide packed solidly around the outside with snow kept the six men warm without a fire for most of the time. They survived on an almost all-fish diet with a bit of marten to break the monotony. Hearne was able to bring his journals up to date as well as draw the very first maps ever made of the interior of northern Canada. Samuel rather liked the peace and solitude and learned a great deal from his Chipewyan guide about their life and culture. On April 1, 1770, The group left their camp site and headed north again. The fish had slowly disappeared and food was scarce again. Spring would bring the partridges and they were plentiful. By June 1, Hearne and his party left Shethanei Lake and headed north towards Shoal Lake and the timberline. Constant daylight was with them and the snow was soft with patches of bare ground. The snowshoes and sleds were now a hindrance and were thrown away. What goods were left were arranged into packs and everyone, including Hearne, carried his share. This gave him a great deal of respect in the eyes of the Chipewyans as English commanders seldom did anything except deliver orders. Each pack weighed about sixty pounds. By June 20, 21, and 22, they carried their sixty pound packs on a diet of tobacco and water. In the previous expedition they had lived on cranberries, water, scraps of leather and burned bones from old fires. After 7 days their stomachs had shrunk and their strength was gone and when food was found they could only eat small amounts without getting violently sick - 2 or 3 ozs. The second expedition had made it to the Barren Grounds almost due north along the ninety-third meridian, a hundred miles away from the nearest trees. There were no fires; it rained incessantly; and the loose leather shirt, long stockings, and soft, wet moccasins were cold and slippery and without any comfort. Continuing along with little and sometimes no food, Samuel had a growing suspicion that Conne-e-quese was unaware of just where the Coppermine and Anián might be. As he moved farther and farther north, the hunger and finding food became his single aim in life. Three old, shaggy musk-oxen were spotted near a small lake and the Indians killed all three. "They were old and tough and reeked but while the rain continued to come down in great wind driven sheets, we ate most of one buffalo raw between the six of us." After seventy-two hours the rain stopped. They dried their clothes, jerked a few strips of the musk-ox, and headed for the Kazan River at the end of June. The Kazan River winds and slithers over four hundred and fifty miles eventually emptying into Baker Lake, which in turn reaches Hudson Bay via Chesterfield Inlet. Hearne and his expedition ran into another Chipewyan band under the leadership of Keelshies. He said he was heading to Prince of Wales Fort and agreed to carry dispatches from Samuel to the Fort and rendezvous at another site with supplies of tobacco, ammunition and knives. At this point in his second expedition, Samuel Hearne had penetrated deeper into the American subarctic than any other white man. His theory that the land draining into the Hudson Bay was only a small part of the Canadian north was now proven to be correct. Late in July, after moving north towards Yathkyed, they came across another band of Chipewyans known to Conne-e-quese and after observing a suspicious conversation between the two Indians, Hearne was told it was already too late in the season to continue north to the Coppermine and suggested they winter with the band. In no position to force the issue, the parties joined together and headed northwestward towards Aberdeen Lake. Hearne can be given credit for discovering the Dubawnt Lake ( sixteenth largest in North America), from references in his journals. The expedition of six and the small band were joined daily by more bands until they numbered over six hundred persons. Hearne made the mistake of entrusting his gear, which included his quadrant and a supply of ammunition, while he escaped from the gathering for some peaceful hunting. On his return, he found the Indian had decamped taking Hearne's gear with him. Hearne and two Southern Indians went after the deserter and after several days found part of the powder and the quadrant laid out on a stone. He gathered his gear together and headed back to the previous camp only to find the six hundred Indians had left. They had left him a marker to follow and he was able to catch up with them late that night after traveling 30 or 40 miles. August 12, Hearne mounted his quadrant and recorded "63° 10' No and 10° 40' w from Churchill." This would be his last official recording as he left his quadrant standing on the rock to take another reading at night time and a gust of high wind came from nowhere and blew it over, breaking the quadrant. This incident brought the second expedition to a grinding halt. With no means of verifying positions and distances, the goals could not be reached. To add to his troubles, several Indians approached him requesting his gear and when he said no, they took it by force and robbed the other five members in the party as well. As this was an acceptable practice among the Chipewyans, he had no recourse. He requested the return of a knife, an awl, needle, razor and soap so that he might be able to travel safely and these items were given back to him. He was not given any other clothing, blankets or tent items. " I never saw a set of people that possessed so little humanity, or that could view the distress of their fellow creatures with so little feeling and unconcern; they will laugh at and ridicule the distress of every other person who is not immediately related to them." He was left behind without snowshoes and no way to keep up with the five Indians who had accompanied him. Hearne knew that he had to keep up because the result of falling behind would be a bitter and certain death from exposure. For three days (Sept. 18, 19, and 20th) the deadly struggle without snowshoes continued. Only a superb physique and his quiet, stubborn will had kept him on his feet long enough to stumble into the campsite. On Sept 20, 1770, Samuel Hearne crossed paths with Matonabbee, a Chipewyan Chief and a longtime favourite at Prince of Wales Fort. Matonabbee immediately gave Hearne a suit of otter and other skins; ordered his own women to prepare additional clothes; directed Hearne to a nearby supple of material for snowshoes and sleds; gave a feast in his honour, thus raising his sagging prestige; and asked if he intended to try to find the Coppermine again. Hearne stated that he would go again, with or without permission. The two became fast friends and planned the third expedition based on the failures of the first two. The deciding factor seemed to be that no women were allowed to come along and this made life more difficult as the men did not know how to do the menial work of women. Hearne arrived back at Prince of Wales Fort on November 22, 1770. The third expedition began on December 7, 1770. Moses Norton gave his full official support to the third expedition; appointed Matonabbee as guide; authorized such supplies as could be taken; and issued the required formal instructions to look for the Coppermine and the Strait of Anián. Samuel Hearne had learned from his previous two expeditions. A really great commander will delegate authority to those better prepared for a task than himself and with this in mind, Matonabbee was assigned the job of organizing their equipment. The first thing he saw to was that there were sufficient women included in the expedition to do the domestic work and maintain some semblance of order. Hearne was once again the only white man in the expedition. On December 16 they arrived at Egg River.
Samuel Hearne was the first white man ever to cross the great Barren Grounds and it is a mark of his greatness as an explorer that his description of the Grounds is "authority" even today. Samuel Hearne also was the first white man to enjoy the magic and the beauty offered in this great vast wasteland where man is not encouraged to survive but where:
It was less than two weeks from Prince of Wales Fort but already starvation was a living member of the third expedition. Hearne was faced with the awesome decision of continuing on and taking the expedition farther into the barren wasteland or failing again and returning to the Fort. The decision made was to struggle forward. Surely they would find a deer, ptarmigan, or lake to fish in. For eight days they traveled on determination and bits of leather garments. Finally on December 27th they spotted the timberline and 4 deer. The Indians killed the deer and the expedition ate steady for the entire day. They had all been without any food for 3 days. New Year's Eve 1770, found Hearne and Matonabbee on the ice of Nueltin Lake. The lake is situated between 99° west and 100° west. Hearne Bay, an arm on the east shore, honours his discovery. New Year's Day 1771 found the expedition sixteen miles across Lake Neultin where the expedition found twenty wives and children belonging to two of the guides in the expedition. Throughout January, the expedition moved west and a little north making about eight or nine miles a day. On February 3, 1771, a few miles ahead with the treeline in sight, the decision was made to keep to the brush where it was hoped game would be more plentiful. The expedition began moving westward towards Poorfish Lake and then on to Kasba, a lake sprawling crab like overland at 102° west and 60° north. In this frozen land interspersed with lakes, narrow ridges, jutting rocks and sand left from subglacial streams, gales whipped up instantly making travel extremely dangerous. The third expedition followed Chipewyan trails known by instinct as there were no trails anywhere that Hearne could see. Upon reaching Lake Kasba, Hearne was once again told that it was impossible to reach the Coppermine this time of year. After several weeks of hunting and fishing and preparing meat and game, and feasting, the expedition resumed its travel and slanted north-westward. The third expedition now numbered seventy members. During a blinding snowstorm, they ran across another band of Chipewyans heading towards Prince of Wales Fort and Hearne sent a letter to Norton giving his location as 61° north and more than 19° west of Churchill. The reading was wrong as it was much too far west. Early in April, the third expedition camped for ten days. They erected tents using 1" square poles and built "knock-down" canoes so carefully cut out they could be put back together without further shaping any time the ice broke on the lakes. Hearne used this time of rest to bring his journals up to date and wrote about the lands flora and fauna and recorded everything he had learned and observed about Chipewyan camp life. On May 3, 1771, the expedition arrived at Clowey Lake and remained several days completing canoes. Toward the end of May Hearne received news that Keelshies, the man who had taken the letter to Norton, was one day's walk to the south with the requested supplies. On May 26th a vicious storm stopped all travel and forced Hearne, the Chipewyans, and the wild dogs to huddle together in wet leather tents to wait out the storm. Keelshies arrived several weeks later with a packet of letters, two quarts of brandy and a mass of excuses for no longer having the other supplies. The real crisis at this time came with Matonabbee's announcement that he was leaving the expedition to join with the "Athapuscows." Matonabbee had lost 'face' when he challenged for an eighth wife that promptly ran away and then had to buy back his favourite wife after losing her in a wrestling challenge. Hearne used Matonabbee's vanity to bring him around. He would be able to boast to his grandchildren and their children of his leading Hearne to the Coppermine, and his name would be forever written in history. At this point in the expedition Hearne had discovered:
The expedition set out immediately and made camp on an island half way across Lake Clinton-Colden. Here the party was split up and separated into an advance group and the rear guard. On May 31, 1771, at 9:30 p.m., the smaller command headed toward the Arctic, Matonabbee taking two of his wives and allowing the other men similar rights. Hearne had been noticing changes in the men's attire and attitude and was concerned with the large, decorated shields that were being made. The main body of women and children had been left behind and Matonabbee was assuming more and more authority. The conversations concerning the Eskimos were always brought to a complete halt when Hearne came into listening range. Hearne concluded that Matonabbee's cooperation was due to his desire to lead a mass murder party against the Eskimos. The Chipewyans and the Eskimos were bitter foes and Matonabbee was a Chipewyan Chief first and a Company man second. The men prepared for war and Hearne had to go along or be left behind on his own to die in the Arctic. The Coppermine River was reached in mid-July. Samuel Hearne recorded in his journal, "We have finally arrived at the long wished for spot." Hearne almost certainly reached the Coppermine River at Sandstone Rapids, 150 miles from Congecathawachaga. Hearne had hoped to find the river could accommodate Company ships and was bitterly disappointed to discover that it could scarcely float a canoe and the rapids made even this craft useless many times over. As this was a large part of his goal, Hearne began to chart the river.  July 15, 1771, found the party leaving the last of the trees behind and entering the bare rock of the tundra. It also dawned with the information of an Eskimo camp twelve miles downstream. On July 17, 1771, one hour past midnight, the Eskimos were surprised in their sleep, (20 men, women and children), and brutally massacred and desecrated. The site became known as Bloody Falls and many years later Hearne still wept over the vivid memories. The search for a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific began sometime in October 12, 1492. Every foot of North America from Churchill south in a straight line to the Gulf had been explored with no passage found. If Anián existed at all it had to be between Prince of Wales Fort and the Arctic. Samuel Hearne was now at Bloody Falls only eight miles from the northern sea. He was intensely aware of his accomplishment and of the role he played. Open bits of land became visible between the land and the unbroken ice to the north. The third Coppermine Expedition reached Arctic salt water at low tide and Hearne studied the location until 1:00 a.m. on July 18, 1771 when a fog rolled in blanketing the area. He believed his readings were accurate enough to place Bloody Falls and the mouth of the Coppermine River within twenty miles of their true location, and with that decided, he raised "a mark" and claimed the area for the Great Company. Skeptics still believed that Hearne was wrong and the search would continue for many more years. Half a century later, Hearne's journals and maps were proven correct by Sir John Franklin when he verified the discovery of the massacre of 1771 at Bloody Falls. He wrote "Several human skulls which bore the marks of violence, and many bones were strewed about the encampment, and as the spot exactly answers the description, given by Mr. Hearne, of the place where the Chipewyans etc." Hearne had placed Bloody Falls eight miles from the sea, almost a perfect measurement using the more modern equipment of the time. Hearne's trip was not over yet. He still had to discover where the Red Knives and the Eskimos got their metal. On July 18, 1771, Hearne set out again following the Coppermine River in search of the ore mines. Thirty miles from the mouth of the river, along Burnt Creek, Samuel Hearne came upon one edge of the great Canadian ore beds. This was not found to be as expected as described by the Indians. They were little more than a jumble of rocks and gravel with a small knee-deep river running through the middle. The deposits proved to be widespread extending nearly two hundred miles east of the Coppermine River. Hearne made no attempt to search beyond the immediate area and took one, four pound sample of the ore back with him to Prince of Wales Fort . Hearne had now completed the tasks he had set out to accomplish.
Winter would be closing in soon and he must remain with the Chipewyans if he ever wanted to see Churchill again. Matonabbee and his braves were anxious to return to their women and children and packed up to leave. Due to severe, early snowstorms, it was nearly the third week in July before they were a hundred miles from the Coppermine River. The trip back was now being made in record time. Matonabbee and his men were walking 142 miles at a time before resting. Hearne continued to observe everything around him in the hopes of finding something of value the Great Company could use. On July 22, 1771, the sun made the trek hot and sultry and blinding as the sun bounced off patches of late snow. Hearne was at the mercy and whims of the Chipewyans who were in no hurry to do anything once they gathered their wives and children and families together. By the time this was accomplished, the expedition had swelled to over 400 people. They averaged about six to eight miles a day. October came in with a fury and once again wrecked the camp and also broke Hearne's quadrant. During the next months of travel Hearne discovered:
By March the expedition had dwindled down to 200 members. They hunted and trapped along the way and headed in the general direction of Prince of Wales Fort . May arrived beautiful but quickly turned deadly as a freak blizzard struck the expedition and they were forced to huddle in the rocks for what little shelter they could find. Following the storm, the heat came back and the ground turned to miles of swamps of mud, water, and wet, heavy snow. Starvation followed with no deer or bison being spotted for ten days. With 200 hundred mouths to feed, the four deer killed on day eleven was barely enough to give each person a taste. Ten days later, three deer were killed. The meat lasted for three or four meals as many had starved to death. The expedition lasted eighteen months and twenty three days ending on June 30, 1772, when Samuel Hearne walked into Prince of Wales Fort . From the beginning of his first expedition, Samuel Hearne had spent two years, seven months, and twenty four days on his quest to disprove the existence of the Northwest Passage, find the Coppermine River, and locate the mineral deposits. Hearne was given a new direction in life on his return to Prince of Wales Fort . In the summer of 1773 along with Mathew Cocking, Hearne was to go to the interior and establish a permanent post, build canoes during the winter, and bring out the first load of furs in the summer of 1774. However, by the time Hearne arrived in the interior, he was told he was too late. The Canadians were already well established in the region and were far more generous and reasonable than the Company. Rival traders were ahead of him and many suggested sites were unsuitable. One of the sites he passed up was the Pas. Sixty miles beyond the Pas and just east of the site of present day Cumberland House, Hearne began construction on The Hudson's Bay Company's Cumberland House. Trade began when Bands appeared to trade pelts for goods. On October 9, 1774, several Peddlars in their birch bark canoes arrived and from then on.....history was being made. By February 1775, the Post was fimly established. Many pelts had been collected and they now only waited for the ice to go to float the heavy-laden canoes to Fort York. The first loads left on May 29, 1775. Upon Hearne's arrival, he made several recommedations to the Company.
This then, is Hearne's other legacy. The Company's success, sprang in no small degree from the timely foundation of Cumberland House in 1774. By implementing Hearne's suggestions, the Company was able to compete with the Canadians and continued to enjoy success over a vast number of years. On January 22, 1776, Samuel Hearne became the governor of Prince of Wales Fort . As new governor, Hearne received new orders from home office:
As Governor of Prince of Wales Fort , Hearne set out to make changes in the living conditions at the Fort. Hearne proved that by proper attention to cleanliness and keeping the people at reasonable exercise, scurvy could be kept to a minimum. Hearne also devised a skiff to replace the birch-bark canoes. They were to be prefabricated in London, be light enough for two men to carry, and sturdy enough to carry a ton of freight. Despite objections from many others, the Home Office backed Hearne's idea and the first skiffs were shipped to Hudson Bay in 1777. These were the beginnings of the famous York Boats which eventually supplanted the great canoes. Hearne continued to fight for better wages to "improve morale" and more inland factories. Hearne had many differences in opinion with the Company but these all became secondary with the beginning of the American Revolution. On February 6, 1778, France signed two treaties with the rebelling colonies in the New World. This permitted France to openly engage in the revolution with the Americans. British forts were up for grabs and the two most coveted were York and Prince of Wales Fort . Samuel Hearne opened the gates of Prince of Wales Fort and surrendered after being confronted with four hundred men three days after La Perouse anchored four miles north of the Fort. Prince of Wales Fort was plundered and burned; Hearne was taken prisoner; Fort York was taken; Governor Humphrey Marten was taken prisoner; and everyone sailed for Hudson Strait on September 2, 1778. Hearne, Marten and thirty-one English prisoners were set ashore with the Fort Severn Sloop and allowed to sail for England. They arrived at Stromness, Orkney Islands, on October 15th. As soon as peace was declared, the Company sent Hearne back to reestablish Prince of Wales Fort and remain as the Governor. September 17, 1783 , found Hearne back on the Churchill River with orders to choose a new site for Prince of Wales Fort . He chose the site of the original Old Wooden Factory, five miles upriver from the stone fort. Things did not go well and quite naturally Hearne was blamed for everything. However, deterioration in the profit structure was well advanced even before the capture of the Prince of Wales Fort . During his absence, Mary Norton, twenty-year-old daughter of Moses Norton had been driven into the wilderness by the French and froze to death. Matonabbee arrived to find Hearne gone and hung himself in the Fort leaving his many wives and children to starve to death.
Hearne could only be blamed for the lavish gifts he gave to the Indians. Without these gifts, he could not have competed with the peddlars and the Company would have had no business. In 1786 Hearne pleaded ill health for the second time to the Committee and was finally permitted to retire. He turned over his accounts and his authority to William Jefferson and retired to London in 1787. Little is known about the last five years of Hearne's life. Hearne certainly worked on his journals as Bishop John Douglas of Salisbury, edited the first Hearne edition. Throughout Hearne's adult life there have been half truths and total fabrications made up about him and much of what is known must be taken from his journals and his records. Common sense and reading between the lines will fill in more truth than the tales told. Samuel Hearne died in November 1792 at the age of 47. AURORA BOREALIS © Copyright 1997 All Rights Reserved C.A.A.E. Churchill, Manitoba, Canada Phone: (204) 885-3330 Fax: (204) 831-5348 Email: aurora@cancom.net |