518 Our North Land. 



nearly always misleading and frequently incorrect. In writing of 

 Churchill Harbour, he misquotes Mr. Spencer, chief trader, there, as 

 follows : — 



I had a long conversation with Mr. Spencer regarding the opening 

 and closing of the harbour here. From him I learned that the harbour is 

 never open before some date between the 6th and 16th of June, and is 

 usually frozen over down to within two hundred yards of the harbour by 

 the 1st of November. The shores all along this coast, as I said before, 

 are very low and are certainly not what a ship's master would hanker 

 after if between them and a gale of wind. This is Captain Sopp's opinion 

 expressed in few words. He is a man whose experience in northern 

 waters gives great weight to whatever he may say regarding it. The 

 Ocean Nymph wintered here in 1883 and 1884, having been frozen in 

 October 15 th. 



This is wholly incorrect. The harbour is never frozen over at 

 all. It freezes over for about two hundred yards at the upper end, 

 but the lower portion, comprising at least two-thirds of the harbour 

 is never covered with ice. This is the testimony given to me by 

 Mr. Spencer, and he made the statement in presence and hearing of 

 Dr. Bell, of Ottawa. As to the remark said to have been made by 

 Captain Sopp I am able to contradict it on the written authority of 

 that gentleman. I have in my possession the following question 

 and answer — the answer is in Captain Sopp's own handwriting: 



Author — " What is your opinion of Churchill Harbour and its 

 approaches ? " 



Captain Sopp—" Good ! " 



But the last statement of the Mail's correspondent in the above 

 paragraph is a misstatement, so deliberate that one acquainted with 

 the circumstances is apt to feel a suspicion that it was an intentional 

 misrepresentation. He says : 



The Ocean Nymph wintered here (Churchill) in 1883 and 1884, 

 having been frozen in on October 15th. 



It is true enough that the Ocean Nymph wintered at Churchill 

 in 1883-4, but she was not frozen in on the 15th of October. That 

 statement is without the shadow of fact. She was late in arriving 



