The conquest of the great Northwest, Volume 1 (of 2): $b Being the story of the adventurers of England known as the Hudson's Bay Company. New pages in the history of the Canadian northwest and western statesLaut, Agnes C.
History
The conquest of the great Northwest, Volume 1 (of 2): $b Being the story of the adventurers of England known as the Hudson's Bay Company. New pages in the history of the Canadian northwest and western states
Laut, Agnes C.
Hudson Bay -- History; Hudson's Bay Company; Northwest, Canadian
The fury of Juet the rebellious old mate, now knew no bounds. The ship
had victuals for only six months more. Here was September. Navigation
would hardly open in the Straits before June. If the boat did not
emerge on the South Sea, they would all be winter-bound. The waters
began to shoal to those dangerous reefs on the south where the Hudson’s
Bay traders have lost so many ships. In hoisting anchor up, a furious
over-sea knocked the sailors from the capstan. With a rebound the
heavy iron went splashing overboard. This was too much for Juet. The
mate threw down his pole and refused to serve longer. On September 10,
Hudson was compelled to try him for mutiny. Juet was deposed with loss
of wages for bad conduct and Robert Bylot appointed in his place. The
trial showed Hudson he was slumbering over a powder mine. Half the crew
was disaffected, plotting to possess themselves of arms; but what did
plots matter? Hudson was following a vision which his men could not see.
By this time, Hudson was several hundred miles south of the Straits,
and the inland sea which he had discovered did not seem to be leading
to the Pacific. Following the south shore to _the westernmost bay of
all_—James Bay on the west—Hudson recognized the fact that it was
not the South Sea. The siren of his dreams had sung her fateful song
till she had lured his hopes on the rocks. He was land-bound and
winter-bound in a desolate region with a mutinous crew.
[Illustration: Le Moyne D’Iberville The famous bushranger who raided
the English forts from New England to Hudson Bay and rose to be the
first naval commander of France.]
The water was too shallow for the boat to moor. The men waded
ashore to seek a wintering place. Wood was found in plenty and the
footprint of a savage seen in the snow. That night, November 2, it
snowed heavily, and the boat crashed on the rocks. For twelve hours,
bedlam reigned, Juet heading a party of mutineers, but next day the
storm floated the keel free. By the 10th of November, the ship was
frozen in. To keep up stock of provisions, Hudson offered a reward for
all game, of which there seemed an abundance, but when he ordered the
carpenters ashore to build winter quarters, he could secure obedience
to his commands only by threatening to hang every mutineer to the
yardarm. In the midst of this turmoil, the gunner died. Henry Greene,
the vagabond secretary, who received no wages, asked for the dead man’s
heavy great coat. Hudson granted the request. The mutineers resented
the favoritism, for it was the custom to auction off a dead man’s
belongings at the mainmast, and in the cold climate all needed extra
clothing. Greene took advantage of the apparent favor to shirk house
building and go off to the woods with a rebellious carpenter hunting.
Furious, Hudson turned the coveted coat over to Bylot, the new mate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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