SAILING CRAFT 63 



actions, of which the best victory was Iber- 

 ville's in 1697, with his single ship, the Pelican, 

 against three opponents. In Labrador and 

 Newfoundland the British ousted all rivals 

 from territorial waters, except from the French 

 Shore. The ' Bluenose ' Nova Scotians crept 

 on from port to port. The Yankees were as 

 supreme at home as the other British were 

 in Hudson Bay, though on occasion both were 

 daringly challenged. All the French had was 

 the line of the St Lawrence ; and that was 

 increasingly threatened, both at its mouth and 

 along the Great Lakes. 



The British had in their service a powerful 

 trading corporation. The Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany was flourishing even in the seventeenth 

 century. In one sense it was purely maritime, 

 as its posts were all on the Bay shore, while 

 the French traded chiefly in the hinterlands. 

 The Company's fleet, usually three or four 

 ships, sailed regularly from Gravesend or Ports- 

 mouth about June I, rounded the Orkneys and 

 made for Hudson Bay. The return cargo of 

 furs arrived home in October. This annual 

 voyage continues to the present day. 1 



1 For the narrative of the Hudson's Bay Company the reader 

 is referred to The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay, in this 

 Series. 



