The Hudson's Bay Route Opposed. 523 



polar ice standing high above water. " She sailed," says the narrative of 

 the second mate, an old whaler ice-master, " along the edge of the ice all 

 that day, but found no passage, and as the thermometer was below zero 

 it would have been madness to attempt entering the ice, as the ship would 

 have been frozen up for the winter in less than an hour. Hence the 

 captain very reluctantly gave the order to put the ship about, and returned 

 to the anchorage in the outer roads, twenty-five miles from Moose Factory, 

 which was reached on the 27 th October, intending to winter at Charlton 

 Island." The second mate, with a boat's crew, accordingly put off from 

 the ship for the shore and made it after experiencing considerable difficulty 

 with the ice. 



The next day the company's men at Moose Factory started a large 

 boat full of supplies for the ship, but this craft was frozen in three miles 

 from shore. Thick weather prevailed for two or three days, and on its 

 clearing up it was found that the Prince of Wales had left the anchorage 

 roads for Charlton, which is sixty miles from Moose Factory. On 

 November 8 another relief expedition set out from the Factory to Charlton, 

 but after going eight miles out it had to return. " All hopes of getting 

 there this fall by open water," writes a resident at the Factory, " are 

 gone, and there is no alternative but to wait till the coast freezes up when 

 relief can be sent by dog trains to Rupert's house and thence over the ice 

 to the ship." 



The point worthy of attention in this narrative is not the condition of 

 the ice in James' Bay, but the fact that Hudson Strait was blockaded 

 on October 21. The Prince of Wales is a sailing vessel, and it is quite 

 possible that a steamer might have been able to force her way through 

 the polar ice jammed there. But what would be the rate of insurance on 

 vessels and cargoes compelled periodically to accept such risks ; what 

 would be the probable duration of the voyage under such circumstances ; 

 how many vessels specially equipped for this route would be required to 

 carry a North- West harvest to Liverpool during so short a season ; and 

 what would be done with them when the route was closed 1 These are 

 some of the considerations which it is impossible to avoid in view of the 

 experience of this Hudson's Bay ship and of the Neptune in 1884. In 

 1883 the Ocean Nymph, another Hudson's Bay Company sailing ship, met 

 with the fate of the Prince of Wales this winter, being unable to get 

 through the Strait. In that year, however, the Prince of Wales, under 

 Captain Bishop, her present master, managed to work through, reaching 

 London in December ; but, as Mr. Christie says, " this year, much to his 

 disappointment, he has not been so fortunate," and " his cargo of valuable 

 furs will not reach the market until the autumn of 1885." On the 



