HUDSON BAY A NATIONAL ASSET 



years later Captain F. L. MoClintock cleared up the mys- 

 tery by discovering a record from the lost expedition, and 

 full information as to its awful sufferings and complete 

 •destruction, off the shores of King William Island. 



Following the explorations of Dr. John Rae, discovery in 

 the Hudson Bay district experienced a long period of stag- 

 nation, but with the opening up and development of the 

 Canadian West the necessity of improved and extended 

 transportation facilities presented itself, and the Dominion 

 Government undertook to investigate the possibilities of 

 Hudson Bay and Strait as a commercial route to Europe. 

 For the accomplishment of this important undertaking, 

 Lieut. A. R. Gordon, R.N., was placed in command of the 

 steamer Neptune in the year 1884, and the steamer Alert 

 in the years 1885 and 1886, and, with the assistance of a 

 strong staff of officers, thorough and continuous meteoro- 

 logical, tidal, magnetic and ice observations were taken at 

 seven of the most salient points, both winter and summer, 

 for the space of three years. 



During the summer seasons hydrographic and topo- 

 graphical surveying was vigorously prosecuted, and it was 

 largely in this department of the work that the present 

 writer was engaged. During the winter of 1885-86 he also 

 acted as observer at Big Island, near the centre of the 

 north shore of Hudson Strait — probably the most advan- 

 tageous observation point, both 'because of its prominent 

 geographical position and its high altitude of four hundred 

 and fifty feet above the sea level. In 1893, in company 

 with my brother, J. B. Tyrrell, then of the Canadian 

 Geological Survey, as in this volume related, and again in 

 1900, it fell to my lot to revisit the shores of Hudson Bay. 



During the summer of 1897, Commander Wakeham, in 

 the steamer Diana, was again sent to Hudson Strait by the 

 Canadian Government to further investigate conditions 

 there; and during the years 1903 and 1904, A. P. Low, in 



235 



