Eventually he handed over
his share in this enterprise to his nephew, Alexander Henry the
Younger, and established himself completely in a life of ease and
quiet. He died at Montreal in 1824, aged eighty-five years.
CHAPTER X
Samuel Hearne
The first noteworthy explorer of the far north was SAMUEL HEARNE,[1]
who had been mate of a vessel in the employ of the whale fishery of
Hudson Bay. He entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company about
1765, and was selected four years afterwards by the Governor of Prince
of Wales's Fort (a certain Moses Norton, a half-breed) to lead an
expedition of discovery in search of a mighty river flowing
northwards, which was rumoured to exist by the Eskimo. This
"Coppermine" River was said to flow through a region rich in deposits
of copper. From this district the northern tribes of Indians derived
their copper ornaments and axeheads.
[Footnote 1: Hearne was born in London in 1745. He entered the Royal
Navy as a midshipman at the tender age of eleven, and remained in the
Navy till about 1765, when he went out to Hudson Bay with the rank of
quartermaster. He must have acquired a considerable education, even in
botany and zoology. He not only wrote well, and was a good surveyor
for rough map making, but he had a considerable talent as a
draughtsman.]
Samuel Hearne started on the 6th of November, 1769, from Prince of
Wales's Fort at the mouth of the Churchill River, on the north-west
coast of Hudson Bay.
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