Hudson Bay Expedition
Encyclopedia
The Hudson Bay expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
was a series of military raids on the lucrative fur trading posts and fortifications of the Hudson's Bay Company
on the shores of Hudson Bay
by a squadron of the French Royal Navy
. Setting sail from Cap-Français in 1782, the expedition was part of a global naval war
between France and Great Britain
during the American Revolutionary War
.
Operating under secret orders from the Marquis de Castries
, France's marine minister, La Pérouse sailed from Cap-Français in May 1782, and arrived before the Prince of Wales Fort
in early August. That fort and York Factory
both surrendered without a fight, although some of the stored furs at York were spirited away by a company ship that evaded the French fleet.
Many of the British prisoners were put on a sloop which they sailed back to England. Men on La Pérouse's fleet, which had sailed with minimal winter provisioning to maintain secrecy, suffered from scurvy
and other diseases because of their hardships. The Hudson's Bay Company finances suffered because of the raid, and it contributed to reductions in the native population that did business with the company.
, a captain in the French Navy
, first proposed the idea of an expedition against the fur trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company
to Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu
, the French minister of ports, during a visit to France in late 1780. France's marine minister, the Marquis de Castries
, and King Louis XVI
approved the plan, and Castries issued La Pérouse secret orders that could override those of any fleet commander La Pérouse served under in the event an opportunity presented itself for such an expedition. The idea was to organize a small fleet in secret and make as rapid as possible a journey north to Hudson Bay
from either Newport, Rhode Island
or Boston, Massachusetts, the most northerly ports of North America
open to French ships.
La Pérouse's duties during the 1781 campaign season did not provide him with any chances to exercise his secret orders, but the aftermath of the disastrous French loss in the April 1782 Battle of the Saintes
presented him with the opportunity. France and Spain had been planning an assault on Jamaica
, but the losses incurred during the battle, including the capture of Admiral Paul, Comte de Grasse and his flagship Ville de Paris
, led them to call off the expedition. La Pérouse, on his arrival at Cap-Français after the battle, raised the idea with de Grasse's successor, Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil
. Vaudreuil approved of the plan, and provided La Pérouse with three ships: a ship of the line
Sceptre
(74 guns), and the frigate
s Astrée (38) and Engageante
(34). Astrée was under the command of Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle
, and Engageante was led by Lieutenant André Charles de la Jaille.
Preparations for the expedition were carried out secretly and in some haste, since the French were aware of the short season in the far north. The ships' crews and most of their officers were not informed of the fleet's destination, and La Pérouse, seeking to avoid all suspicion, even avoided carrying cold-weather clothing. Admiral Vaudreuil recorded the fleet's destination in his records as France, with possible stops in Newport or Boston, and Langle and la Jaille were given sealed orders to be opened only upon reaching the latitude of Nova Scotia
. The fleet took on 250 regular infantry from the Régiment Auxerrois, 40 gunners, 4 field gun
s, and two mortar
s. These troops were told they were being sent to supplement the French army at Newport. After two weeks of preparation, the fleet sailed from Cap-Français on May 31, 1782.
at the entrance to the Hudson Strait
without incident on July 17, and proceeded through the strait and into Hudson Bay. While sailing in the bay, the fleet encountered the company ship Seahorse, which was making sail for Fort Prince of Wales. La Pérouse sent one of the frigates to chase after her. Seahorse captain, William Cristopher, suspecting from its behavior that the French ship lacked good charts for the bay, escaped by a ruse. He gave orders to have his sails furled as if he was preparing to anchor; this prompted the French captain, believing shallow waters to lie ahead, to actually drop his anchor. Once he had done so, Cristopher raised his sails and sped off before the Frenchman could raise the anchor again.
, surrendered the fort without firing a shot when the size of the French force became evident the next day. He did so despite requests from some of his men to "allow them to mow down the French troops with the heavy guns loaded with grapeshot
". After resupplying his ships and confiscating the fort's guns, the French proceeded to loot the premises. According to Hearne, the French took more than 7,500 beaver skins, 4,000 marten
pelts, and 17,000 goose quill
s. They also spent two days trying to destroy the fort, but were only able to destroy the gun mounts and damage the upper ramparts. Many of the prisoners were put aboard the company sloop Severn, which had been anchored by the fort; others were taken aboard the French ships, and some were even incorporated into the crews.
, a company outpost on a peninsula between the Hayes
and Nelson
Rivers, on August 11. According to Pérouse's report, he arrived in the area, about 5 league
s (15 miles; 24 km) from York, on August 20. The fort's defenses faced the Hayes River, where the company ship King George was anchored, and the fast-flowing Hayes River would have made an approach there impractical in the face of that opposition.
La Pérouse sailed into the mouth of the Nelson, and moved the troops to the smaller company ships on August 21 to prepare for an amphibious landing, with the plan of approaching the fort from the rear, a distance of about 16 miles (25.7 km). He then proceeded with his engineer to take soundings in the Nelson River, and discovered that even the smaller boats would have difficulty approaching proper land due to its shallowness. His small boat then became mired in mud by the receding tide, and did not become freed until 3 am the next morning. Captain Langle then proposed to Major Rostaing, the commander of the troops, that they cross the muddy shallows on foot. He was agreeable, and the troops then set out to across the shallows. Unknown to them, conditions improved only marginally once land was reached, and they spent the next two days wading through bogs and muck to reach the fort. While they did this, La Pérouse returned to the fleet, because bad weather was threatening the safety of the fleet. Both frigates lost their anchors when sharp rocks underwater cut through their cables in the turbulent conditions.
York Factory was occupied by 60 white men and 12 Indians. When the French ships were spotted, Governor Humphrey Marten loaded trade goods onto the King George so they would not fall into French hands. When the French arrived on August 24, Marten surrendered the fort. (Although La Pérouse sent a frigate after the King George when she sailed off during the night after the fleet's arrival, her captain, Jonathan Fowler, successfully eluded the pursuit due to his superior knowledge of the shallow waters of the bay.) Major Rostaing took the British of the garrison prisoner, destroyed what goods he could not take, and burned the wooden fort to the ground. He was careful to preserve a cache of supplies for use by Indians that came to fort to trade. (These acts of kindness and others by La Pérouse in the treatment of his captives brought him recognition from Hearne, Louis XVI, and the British government.)
La Pérouse did not learn of the capitulation until August 26, and continuing bad weather and difficulties with the frigates meant that he did not effect a junction with Rostaing until August 31. The terms of capitulation included the surrender of Fort Severn, another small outpost. He chose not to actually go to Fort Severn on account of the lateness of the season and the poor condition of his ships and men, who were suffering from scurvy
and other maladies. During the process of loading goods and supplies onto the fleet, five small boats overturned and 15 men drowned.
with Sceptre and Engageante; Astrée made sail for Brest
to deliver news of the expedition's success to Paris. The expedition took a tremendous toll on his ships' crews. By the time the ships returned to Europe, Sceptre had only 60 men (out of an original complement, including land troops, of almost 500) fit to work; about 70 men died of scurvy. Engageante had suffered 15 deaths from scurvy, and almost everyone was sick with one malady or another. Both ships had also suffered damage due to cold weather and battering by ice floes. Fleuriot de Langle received a brevet
promotion to capitaine de vaisseau upon his arrival in Brest in late October.
According to the company, the goods taken at Prince of Wales alone were worth more than £14,000, and La Pérouse's raid so damaged the company finances that it paid no dividend
s until 1786. When peace finally came with the 1783 Treaty of Paris
, the French agreed to compensate the company for its losses. The raid did permanent damage to the company's trading relationships. The Chipewyan
s who traded with the company suffered severely due to the company's inability to provision them, and by an ongoing smallpox epidemic that was ravaging Indian populations throughout North America; the Chipewyans lost half their population by some estimates. The company's inability to trade with them for two season drove many survivors to develop trading relationships with Montreal
.
Neither Hearne nor Marten was sanctioned by the company for surrendering; both returned to their posts the following year. When the French took Fort Prince of Wales, they found Samuel Hearne's journal, which La Pérouse claimed as a prize
. The journal contained Hearne's accounts of his explorations of the northern reaches of North America. Hearne pleaded with La Pérouse for its return, a request the latter granted on condition that it be published. Whether Hearne had intended to publish it anyway is unclear, but by 1792, the year of Hearne's death, he had prepared a manuscript, and submitted it for publication. It was published in 1795 as A Journey from Prince of Wale's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean.
La Pérouse was rewarded by King Louis with a rise in pay of 800 livres
; the exploit drew also drew popular acclaim in Europe and North America. His next major assignment was to lead a voyage of exploration into the Pacific Ocean
in 1785. His fleet, in which Fleuriot de Langle served as second in command, was last seen in the vicinity of Australia
in spring 1788; although remnants of the expedition have been found, his fate is unknown.
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
was a series of military raids on the lucrative fur trading posts and fortifications of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
on the shores of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
by a squadron of the French Royal Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
. Setting sail from Cap-Français in 1782, the expedition was part of a global naval war
Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War
The naval operations of the American Revolutionary War , divide themselves naturally into two periods...
between France and Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
Operating under secret orders from the Marquis de Castries
Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries
Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix de Castries, marquis de Castries, baron des États de Languedoc, comte de Charlus, baron de Castelnau et de Montjouvent, seigneur de Puylaurens et de Lézignan was a French marshal...
, France's marine minister, La Pérouse sailed from Cap-Français in May 1782, and arrived before the Prince of Wales Fort
Prince of Wales Fort
The Prince of Wales Fort is a historic fort on Hudson Bay across the Churchill River from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.-History:The European history of this area starts with the discovery of Hudson Bay in 1610. The area was recognized as important in the fur trade and of potential importance for...
in early August. That fort and York Factory
York Factory, Manitoba
York Factory was a settlement and factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to...
both surrendered without a fight, although some of the stored furs at York were spirited away by a company ship that evaded the French fleet.
Many of the British prisoners were put on a sloop which they sailed back to England. Men on La Pérouse's fleet, which had sailed with minimal winter provisioning to maintain secrecy, suffered from scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
and other diseases because of their hardships. The Hudson's Bay Company finances suffered because of the raid, and it contributed to reductions in the native population that did business with the company.
Background
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La PérouseJean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
, a captain in the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
, first proposed the idea of an expedition against the fur trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
to Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu
Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu
Charles Pierre Claret, comte de Fleurieu was a French explorer, hydrographer and politician. He was Minister of the Navy under Louis XVI, and a member of the Institut de France, as well as the brother of the botanist Marc Antoine Louis Claret de la Tourette.-Ancien Regime:Fleurieu was born in Lyon...
, the French minister of ports, during a visit to France in late 1780. France's marine minister, the Marquis de Castries
Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries
Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix de Castries, marquis de Castries, baron des États de Languedoc, comte de Charlus, baron de Castelnau et de Montjouvent, seigneur de Puylaurens et de Lézignan was a French marshal...
, and King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
approved the plan, and Castries issued La Pérouse secret orders that could override those of any fleet commander La Pérouse served under in the event an opportunity presented itself for such an expedition. The idea was to organize a small fleet in secret and make as rapid as possible a journey north to Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
from either Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
or Boston, Massachusetts, the most northerly ports of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
open to French ships.
La Pérouse's duties during the 1781 campaign season did not provide him with any chances to exercise his secret orders, but the aftermath of the disastrous French loss in the April 1782 Battle of the Saintes
Battle of the Saintes
The Battle of the Saintes took place over 4 days, 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782, during the American War of Independence, and was a victory of a British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney over a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned...
presented him with the opportunity. France and Spain had been planning an assault on Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, but the losses incurred during the battle, including the capture of Admiral Paul, Comte de Grasse and his flagship Ville de Paris
French ship Ville de Paris (1764)
The Ville de Paris was a large three-decker French ship of the line that became famous as the flagship of the Comte de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War....
, led them to call off the expedition. La Pérouse, on his arrival at Cap-Français after the battle, raised the idea with de Grasse's successor, Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil
Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil
Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil was second in command of the French Navy during the American Revolutionary War.-Early life:...
. Vaudreuil approved of the plan, and provided La Pérouse with three ships: a ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
Sceptre
French ship Sceptre (1780)
The Sceptre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.In 1781 and 1782, she took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, under Admiral de Grasse. She fought at the Battle of the Chesapeake and at the Battle of the Saintes...
(74 guns), and the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s Astrée (38) and Engageante
French frigate Engageante (1766)
Engageante was a 26-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1794 and converted her to a hospital ship. She served as a hospital ship until she was broken up in 1811.-French service:...
(34). Astrée was under the command of Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle
Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle
Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle was a French vicomte, académicien de marine, naval commander and explorer. He was second in command of the La Pérouse expedition, which departed France on 1 August 1785 and was eventually lost in the Pacific...
, and Engageante was led by Lieutenant André Charles de la Jaille.
Preparations for the expedition were carried out secretly and in some haste, since the French were aware of the short season in the far north. The ships' crews and most of their officers were not informed of the fleet's destination, and La Pérouse, seeking to avoid all suspicion, even avoided carrying cold-weather clothing. Admiral Vaudreuil recorded the fleet's destination in his records as France, with possible stops in Newport or Boston, and Langle and la Jaille were given sealed orders to be opened only upon reaching the latitude of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. The fleet took on 250 regular infantry from the Régiment Auxerrois, 40 gunners, 4 field gun
Field gun
A field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as to opposed guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannon or mortars which...
s, and two mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s. These troops were told they were being sent to supplement the French army at Newport. After two weeks of preparation, the fleet sailed from Cap-Français on May 31, 1782.
Expedition
The fleet reached Resolution IslandResolution Island (Nunavut)
Resolution Island is one of the many uninhabited Canadian Arctic islands in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It is a Baffin Island offshore island located in Hudson Strait. It has an area of...
at the entrance to the Hudson Strait
Hudson Strait
Hudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay in Canada. It lies between Baffin Island and the northern coast of Quebec, its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley and Resolution Island. It is long...
without incident on July 17, and proceeded through the strait and into Hudson Bay. While sailing in the bay, the fleet encountered the company ship Seahorse, which was making sail for Fort Prince of Wales. La Pérouse sent one of the frigates to chase after her. Seahorse captain, William Cristopher, suspecting from its behavior that the French ship lacked good charts for the bay, escaped by a ruse. He gave orders to have his sails furled as if he was preparing to anchor; this prompted the French captain, believing shallow waters to lie ahead, to actually drop his anchor. Once he had done so, Cristopher raised his sails and sped off before the Frenchman could raise the anchor again.
Fort Prince of Wales
On August 8 La Pérouse arrived at Fort Prince of Wales, an impressive but crumbling stone fortress that was defended by 39 civilians. Its governor, Samuel HearneSamuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne was a an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the Coppermine River...
, surrendered the fort without firing a shot when the size of the French force became evident the next day. He did so despite requests from some of his men to "allow them to mow down the French troops with the heavy guns loaded with grapeshot
Grapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of shot that is not a one solid element, but a mass of small metal balls or slugs packed tightly into a canvas bag. It was used both in land and naval warfare. When assembled, the balls resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name...
". After resupplying his ships and confiscating the fort's guns, the French proceeded to loot the premises. According to Hearne, the French took more than 7,500 beaver skins, 4,000 marten
Marten
The martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae.-Description:Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large...
pelts, and 17,000 goose quill
Quill
A quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen...
s. They also spent two days trying to destroy the fort, but were only able to destroy the gun mounts and damage the upper ramparts. Many of the prisoners were put aboard the company sloop Severn, which had been anchored by the fort; others were taken aboard the French ships, and some were even incorporated into the crews.
York Factory
La Pérouse then collected most of the company's small boats, and sailed for York FactoryYork Factory, Manitoba
York Factory was a settlement and factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to...
, a company outpost on a peninsula between the Hayes
Hayes River
The Hayes River is a river in Northern Region, Manitoba, Canada that flows from Molson Lake to Hudson Bay at York Factory. It was an historically important river in the development of Canada, and is today a Canadian Heritage River and the longest naturally flowing river in Manitoba.-Course:The...
and Nelson
Nelson River
The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its full length is , it has mean discharge of , and has a drainage basin of , of which is in the United States...
Rivers, on August 11. According to Pérouse's report, he arrived in the area, about 5 league
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
s (15 miles; 24 km) from York, on August 20. The fort's defenses faced the Hayes River, where the company ship King George was anchored, and the fast-flowing Hayes River would have made an approach there impractical in the face of that opposition.
York Factory was occupied by 60 white men and 12 Indians. When the French ships were spotted, Governor Humphrey Marten loaded trade goods onto the King George so they would not fall into French hands. When the French arrived on August 24, Marten surrendered the fort. (Although La Pérouse sent a frigate after the King George when she sailed off during the night after the fleet's arrival, her captain, Jonathan Fowler, successfully eluded the pursuit due to his superior knowledge of the shallow waters of the bay.) Major Rostaing took the British of the garrison prisoner, destroyed what goods he could not take, and burned the wooden fort to the ground. He was careful to preserve a cache of supplies for use by Indians that came to fort to trade. (These acts of kindness and others by La Pérouse in the treatment of his captives brought him recognition from Hearne, Louis XVI, and the British government.)
La Pérouse did not learn of the capitulation until August 26, and continuing bad weather and difficulties with the frigates meant that he did not effect a junction with Rostaing until August 31. The terms of capitulation included the surrender of Fort Severn, another small outpost. He chose not to actually go to Fort Severn on account of the lateness of the season and the poor condition of his ships and men, who were suffering from scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
and other maladies. During the process of loading goods and supplies onto the fleet, five small boats overturned and 15 men drowned.
Aftermath
La Pérouse then began the journey back to the Atlantic, towing the Severn as far as Cape Resolution. There she was cut loose to make her way back to England, while La Pérouse sailed for CadizCádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
with Sceptre and Engageante; Astrée made sail for Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
to deliver news of the expedition's success to Paris. The expedition took a tremendous toll on his ships' crews. By the time the ships returned to Europe, Sceptre had only 60 men (out of an original complement, including land troops, of almost 500) fit to work; about 70 men died of scurvy. Engageante had suffered 15 deaths from scurvy, and almost everyone was sick with one malady or another. Both ships had also suffered damage due to cold weather and battering by ice floes. Fleuriot de Langle received a brevet
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
promotion to capitaine de vaisseau upon his arrival in Brest in late October.
According to the company, the goods taken at Prince of Wales alone were worth more than £14,000, and La Pérouse's raid so damaged the company finances that it paid no dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
s until 1786. When peace finally came with the 1783 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
, the French agreed to compensate the company for its losses. The raid did permanent damage to the company's trading relationships. The Chipewyan
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...
s who traded with the company suffered severely due to the company's inability to provision them, and by an ongoing smallpox epidemic that was ravaging Indian populations throughout North America; the Chipewyans lost half their population by some estimates. The company's inability to trade with them for two season drove many survivors to develop trading relationships with Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
Neither Hearne nor Marten was sanctioned by the company for surrendering; both returned to their posts the following year. When the French took Fort Prince of Wales, they found Samuel Hearne's journal, which La Pérouse claimed as a prize
Prize (law)
Prize is a term used in admiralty law to refer to equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of prize in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and its cargo as a prize of war. In the past, it was common that the capturing force would be allotted...
. The journal contained Hearne's accounts of his explorations of the northern reaches of North America. Hearne pleaded with La Pérouse for its return, a request the latter granted on condition that it be published. Whether Hearne had intended to publish it anyway is unclear, but by 1792, the year of Hearne's death, he had prepared a manuscript, and submitted it for publication. It was published in 1795 as A Journey from Prince of Wale's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean.
La Pérouse was rewarded by King Louis with a rise in pay of 800 livres
French livre
The livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
; the exploit drew also drew popular acclaim in Europe and North America. His next major assignment was to lead a voyage of exploration into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
in 1785. His fleet, in which Fleuriot de Langle served as second in command, was last seen in the vicinity of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in spring 1788; although remnants of the expedition have been found, his fate is unknown.