The Northwest Passage 205 



Urged on by keen and increasing competition captain 

 with French trading and missionary efforts, the i7\9 2han 

 Hudson Bay Company fitted out a frigate &quot;com 

 manded by Captain Vaughan, and a sloop by 

 Captain Barlow, the chief command being en 

 trusted to Captain James Knight, who had been 

 governor of a number of the forts, but who was 

 eighty years of age.&quot; The instructions were to 

 follow the West shore, of Hudson Bay, north 

 wards in search of the mythical &quot;Anian Strait.&quot; 

 &quot;Hopes were long entertained that Knight had 

 made his way to the Pacific, and it was not u^itil 

 1767 that the fate of the expedition became 

 known. That year the Company started a whale 

 fishery at Marble island, and one of the boats 

 engaged accidently discovered a harbour near 

 the east end of the island; at its head, guns, 

 anchors, cables and many other articles were 

 found. The wrecks of the ships lay in five 

 fathoms of water, and the remains of the house 

 were still in existence, with two skulls on the 

 ground near by. Hearne learned from the 

 Eskimos that the ships arrived late in the summer, 

 that the larger one received much damage enter 

 ing the harbour, that soon after arriving the house 

 was built and that the white men numbered about 

 fifty. When the natives again visited them, 

 during the following summer, their number was 

 greatly reduced, and the remainder were un 

 healthy. The carpenters were then at work on 

 a boat. By the beginning of winter the number 

 was reduced to twenty, and in the following sum- 



