80 CKTJ1SE OF THE NEPTUNE 



the track taken by Fox. After parting with Fox, he sailed 

 southward along the west coast, thoroughly examined it, and 

 after several narrow escapes from shipwreck through grounding 

 on shoals, finally ran his ship aground on Charleton island, and 

 there passed the winter. James gives a woeful tale of the hard- 

 ships caused by cold, lack of food and scurvy. He states that 

 the cold was so intense that wine, sack, oil, vinegar and even 

 brandy froze solid ; that the cook soaked his salt meat near the 

 fire to prevent it from freezing, and that the side near the fire 

 was found to be warm while the opposite side was frozen an 

 inch thick. This is a sample of James' report, a.nd shows what 

 reliance may be placed on his other statements. 



From the time of Charles I. to that of George I. England 

 was convulsed with civil war and revolutions, and was at war 

 with other nations abroad, so that for nearly a century after 

 Fox no maritime discoveries were undertaken, and nothing 

 would have been done in the north but for the foundation of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company. 



Two French Canadian fur traders, named Radisson and 

 Chouart dit Gros^illiers, had for a number of years traded and 

 lived with the Indians in the country north and west of Lake 

 Superior, learning much about the great sea to the north, and 

 the canoe routes leading to it. They visited its southern shores 

 in 1659, and on their return to Quebec endeavoured to enlist 

 prominent merchants there in a scheme to establish permanent 

 trading posts on the bay, to be supplied by ships from Canada 

 or France. Being unsuccessful, they crossed to Paris, where 

 they found no one to advance the capital necessary to start the 

 project. The English- ambassador, hearing of their scheme, sent 

 them to London, where they interested Prince Rupert and 

 several influential men of the court and city.* These advanced 



* Another version, however, of the origin of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 states that the two Frenchmen went to Boston, New England, where they 

 met Sir George Carteret (or Cartwright), who gave them letters of introduc- 

 tion to King Charles. 



