The Great Company : $b being a history of the honourable company of merchants-adventurers trading into Hudson's BayWillson, Beckles
History
The Great Company : $b being a history of the honourable company of merchants-adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay
Willson, Beckles
Fur trade -- Canada; Hudson's Bay Company; Northwest, Canadian -- History
On June 28, the Company's ships, the _Prince of Wales_ and the
_Eddystone_, sailed out of the little harbour of Stromness. They were
accompanied by two other vessels, one a brig bound for the Moravian
missions on the Labrador coast, and the other his Majesty's sloop of
war _Brazen_, as armed convoy. The voyage was by no means as
monotonous as such voyages usually were. On board the _Prince of
Wales_, typhoid fever of a virulent character broke out, causing a
panic and a number of deaths, marine funerals being a daily
occurrence. As for the _Eddystone_, an insurrection occurred; during
which the sailors and passengers between decks sought to obtain
possession of the ship and dispose of her, together with cargo and
effects to France or Spain, or to the ships or colonies of those
hostile countries. The captain was, however informed of the plan, and
immediately placed armed men to guard the hatches, loaded the quarter
gun with grape shot and coolly awaited the advent on deck of the
conspirators. These appeared in due course, but were quick to perceive
themselves completely non-plussed and retired below in confusion.
On the 12th of August the little fleet found an anchorage in Churchill
River, in close proximity to the new fort Prince of Wales. Here the
immigrants were landed, and after a short rest were sent forward, some
on foot and others by boat, to a place known as Colony Creek. Here
they built log cabins, and in their weak, unacclimatized state, drew
together to pass the winter in those hyperborean regions. In order to
receive the scant rations dealt out to them by the Company at the
fort, they were obliged to perform a journey of thirty miles on
snowshoes each week. But the trials and hardships of the poor
wanderers, amongst which was the deprivation of the locks of their
guns "in order that they should not kill the Company's partridges,"
came to an end in April, when their gun-locks were restored and they
took up their journey to York Factory, slaying innumerable game as
they went. Here they met from the Chief Factor, Cook, a hospitable
reception, and continuing their journeyings after a short halt,
reached Fort Douglas in the early autumn. Governor McDonnell welcomed
the members of this second brigade and proceeded to allot to each head
of a family one hundred acres of land and an Indian pony. A few days
later they were called together, and after each had been regaled with
a glass of spirits, he was furnished with a musket, bayonet and
ammunition. They were told they must offer an armed resistance to
their tormentors and aggressors should they again appear, and
admonished that the strong could dictate to the weak. Notwithstanding,
the colonists could not but marvel at the plentiful lack of
preparation for the agricultural pursuits which they had intended to
follow in this remote region. There were no farm implements, nor was
there metal of which these could be fashioned, unless it was the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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