Part 27 (1/2)
A number of public-spirited persons came forward for the prosecution of the design. Parliament was urged to act in the matter, and a bill was carried, offering a reward of twenty thousand pounds for the discovery of the north-west pa.s.sage.
[Sidenote: Parliament and the North-West pa.s.sage.]
”Whereas,” ran the Act, ”the discovering of a north-west pa.s.sage through Hudson's Straits, to the Western American Ocean, will be of great Benefit and advantage to the trade of this Kingdom; and whereas it will be a great encouragement to Adventurers to attempt the same, if a public reward was given to such person or persons as shall make a perfect discovery of the said pa.s.sage: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament a.s.sembled, and by the authority of the same, that if any s.h.i.+p or vessel, s.h.i.+ps or vessels belonging to any of his Majesty's subjects, shall find out and sail through any pa.s.sage by sea between Hudson's Bay and the Western and Southern Ocean of America, the owner or owners of such s.h.i.+p or s.h.i.+ps, vessel or vessels as aforesaid, so first finding out and sailing through the said pa.s.sage, his or their executors, administrators or a.s.signs shall be ent.i.tled to receive and shall receive as a reward for such discovery, the sum of twenty thousand pounds.”
Parliament took care, however, to declare that nothing in the Act should ”in any ways extend or be construed to take away or prejudice any of the estates, rights or privileges of or belonging to the Governor and Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay.”
With such encouragement, it was not long before a North-West a.s.sociation was formed for the raising of 10,000, which sum it was thought would answer the necessary expense of the proposed expedition.
The s.h.i.+ps bought by the Committee were one of one hundred and eighty tons, called the _Dobbs' Galley_, and another of one hundred and forty tons, to which the name of the _California_ was given. Each of these vessels was got ready, and a sufficient quant.i.ty of stores and provisions put on board. A cargo of merchandise, suitable for presents to the natives was put on board, after a.s.surance to the Hudson's Bay Company that these would not be used for purpose of barter. The command of the _Dobbs' Galley_ was entrusted to Captain William Moor, an old servant of the Company; that of the _California_ being given to Francis Smith. By way of encouragement, premiums were settled on officers and crew, in case of success. Thus the captain was to have 500, each of the mates 200, and every other officer and seaman a reward suitable to his station. Over and above all this, in case they were so fortunate as to take any prizes, such were to belong entirely to them.
[Sidenote: Expedition of the North-West a.s.sociation.]
On the 10th of May the expedition started. In order that they might get safely beyond the British Isles without danger from the French privateersmen, the Admiralty appointed a convoy to meet them at the Island of Pomona, in the Orkneys. Judge of their surprise to find this convoy commanded by Captain Middleton himself, on board the _Shark_.
Some days later the explorer of 1742 and the explorers of 1746 bade farewell to one another.
For some months the s.h.i.+ps cruised about the Bay. At last, in September, it was decided to set about preparations for wintering in some part of Hays' River. This they found in a creek about five miles above York Factory, on the south side of the stream. The locality was, perhaps, hardly congenial in a social sense.
[Sidenote: Governor Norton.]
”The Governor,” says one who accompanied the expedition as the agent of the patrons,[61] ”being now convinced of our intentions to winter there, used his utmost endeavours that we might lay our s.h.i.+ps below the fort, in a place open to the sea, where they would have been in all probability beat to pieces, either from the waves of the sea setting in or the breaking of the ice; but as his arguments were of no efficacy in persuading us, and finding himself disappointed in this, as in his former scheme, being still resolved to distress us as much as possible, he sent most of the Indians, whose chief employment is to kill deer, geese, etc., into the country, on purpose that we might not make use of them in that way, or be in any wise benefited by their means.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: CONTEMPORARY MAP SHOWING THE HAYS' RIVER.]
The charge that Governor Norton desired the destruction of the s.h.i.+ps is too absurd to refute at this late day; nevertheless there is little doubt that the explorers believed it, and anything else their inflamed imaginations and prejudices against the Company suggested.
Even when Norton designed to show them kindness, the design was twisted into one of sinister shape. For instance, hearing that their supply of liquor was short, when Christmas came around, he sent as a present to the explorers, at the little log-house they had christened Montague House, a couple of casks of brandy with which to make good cheer. Soon afterwards scurvy broke out, and the disease was set down immediately to the brandy. ”Our people had been healthy enough before,” says Ellis.
But even when the scurvy had carried off several of the men at Montague House, Governor Norton was alleged to have refused both to succour or to suggest a remedy. ”The Indians were charged not to come near us, or to furnish us with anything (and this out of consideration for them), because we had a contagious distemper amongst us.” Norton's sole view in all his actions is represented to have been to hinder and distress the explorers, ”which,” remarks the writer quoted, philosophically, ”is the encouragement that all are to expect who go in search of a north-west pa.s.sage _from such neighbours_.”
When spring came the expedition resumed its labours. It is said the crews were full of alacrity and cheerfulness. One honest seaman, ”whose sole delight was a delicious dram,” was so enthusiastic over the discovery that ”in the warm sincerity of his heart he could not help saying, with a good, round oath, 'Now, I had rather find the north-west pa.s.sage than half an anchor of brandy!'”
[Sidenote: Return of the expedition to England.]
The summer was spent in coasting the whole north-west side of the Bay.
But, alas, the north-west pa.s.sage so ardently and characteristically desired by the ”honest sea-man,” was not found, and by the 14th of October the expedition was back again in England, after an absence of one year four months and seventeen days. The explorers and the patrons might well have been discouraged from further attempts, albeit they returned, we are told, ”with clearer and fuller proofs, founded on plain facts and accurate experiments, that such a pa.s.sage existed.”
Nevertheless, if the Company breathed easier on their return, it was a temporary relief. A new trial was in store for the Honourable Adventurers.
In 1748, war still continuing with France and Spain, the Company again issued strict orders to Governor Spence at Albany Fort to be always on his guard, and ”to keep a good watch and your men near home, but not to hinder a proper number to be employed in providing a sufficient quant.i.ty of the country provisions, particularly geese, which we find you constantly employ the Indians only to kill for you, and which we are dissatisfied with; that being such a material article, you ought always to blend some of your people with the natives in the goose seasons, that they may understand how to kill them, and thereby lessen your dependence on the native hunters.”
To the Governor of Prince of Wales' Fort it directed that he should ”constantly keep his great guns loaded with powder and ball ready for service during the time the rivers are open. You are also to keep your small arms loaded and in good order, and at hand, to be easily come at, which loaded arms and cannon are to be drawn once a month and well cleaned, and to exercise your men as often as requisite, whom we expect by this time are artists, not only in the use of small arms but also of cannon, that the great expense we have been at in this particular may answer the end proposed thereby in case of an attack.
You are also to keep a sufficient number of your trading guns loaded and at hand, which charges are also to be drawn every month, and if there be any Indians you can confide in, and will be of service to you in your defence, we recommend it to you to employ them in such manner as you think proper.”
Certainly if a French commander of even Iberville's power had appeared before the forts of the Company in 1748 he would have met with a far different reception to that which was offered to that champion in 1697.
The Company suffered much from the press-gangs, from time to time, and in eras of war the evil was almost intolerable. It was well-known that the sailors in its employ were amongst the ablest and hardiest on the high seas, which fact exposed them perpetually to the onslaughts of the crimps and bullies.