Samuel Hearne
Encyclopedia
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
. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson’s Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan.
. He remained with Hood during the Seven Years' War
, seeing considerable action during the conflict, including the bombardment of Le Havre
. At the end of the Seven Years' War, having served in the English Channel and then the Mediterranean, he left the navy in 1763. His activities during the next three years are unknown.
In February 1766, he joined the Hudson’s Bay Company as a mate on the sloop Churchill, which was then engaged in the Inuit
trade out of Prince of Wales Fort
, Churchill, Manitoba
. Two years later he became mate on the brigantine
Charlotte and participated in the company’s short-lived black whale
fishery. in 1767 he found the remains of James Knight's expedition. In 1768, he examined portions of the Hudson Bay
coasts with a view to improving the cod fishery. During this time he gained a reputation for snowshoeing.
Hearne was able to improve his navigational skills by observing William Wales
who was at Hudson Bay during 1768–1769 after being commissioned by the Royal Society
to observe the Transit of Venus
with Joseph Dymond.
) brought lumps of copper to Churchill, the governor, Moses Norton, decided to send Hearne in search of a possible copper mine. The basic theme of Hearne's three journeys is the Englishmen's ignorance of the methods of travel through this very difficult country and their dependence on Indians who knew the land and how to live off of it.
First Journey: Since there was no canoe route to the northwest, the plan was to go on foot over the frozen winter ground. Without canoes, they would have to carry as much food as possible and then live off the land. Hearne planned to join a group of northern Indians that had come to trade at Churchill and somehow induce them to lead him to the copper mine. He left Churchill on November 6, 1769 along with two company employees, two Cree
hunters and a band of Chipewyans and went north across the Seal River
, an east-west river north of Churchill. By the 19th their European provisions gave out and their hunters had found little game (Hearne had left too late in the season and the Caribou had already left the Barren Grounds for the shelter of the forested country further south.) They headed west and north, finding only a few ptarmigan
, fish and three stray Caribou. The Indians, who knew the country, had better sense than to risk starvation in this way and began deserting. When the last Indians left, Hearn and his European companions returned to the sheltered valley of the Seal River, where he was able to find venison, and reached Churchill on December 11.
Second Journey: Since he could not control the northern Indians, Hearne proposed to try again using 'home guards', that is, Cree
who lived around the post and hunted in exchange for European supplies. He left Churchill on 23 February. Reaching the Seal River, he found good hunting and followed it west until he reached a large lake, probably Sethnanei Lake. Here he decided to wait for better weather and live by fishing. In April the fish began to give out. On the 24th a large body of Indians, mostly women, arrived from the south for the annual goose hunt. On the 19th of May the geese arrived and there was now plenty to eat. They headed north and east past Baralzone Lake. By June the geese had flown further north and they were again threatened with famine. At one point they killed three Muskoxen and had to eat them raw because it was too wet to light a fire. They crossed the Kazan River above Yathkyed Lake
where they found good hunting and fishing and then went west to Lake Dubawnt which is about 450 miles northwest of Churchill. On the 14th of August his quadrant
was destroyed, which accounts for the inaccuracy of latitudes on the remainder to this and the next journey. At this point the sources become vague, but Hearne returned to Churchill in the autumn. On his return journey he met Matonabbee
who was to be his guide on the next journey. Matonabbee may well have saved him from freezing or starving to death. Most of the land Hearne crossed on his second journey is very desolate and was not properly explored again until James Tyrrell
in 1893.
Third Journey: Hearne contrived to travel as the only European with a group of Chipewyan
guides led Matonabbee
. The group also included eight of Matonabbee's wives to act as beasts of burden in the sledge traces, camp servants, and cooks. This third expedition set out in December 1770, to reach the Coppermine River
in summer, by which he could descend to the Arctic
in canoe
s.
Matonabbee kept a fast pace, so fast they reached the great caribou traverse before provisions dwindled and in time for the spring hunt. Here Northern Indian (Dene
) hunters gathered to hunt the vast herds of caribou migrating north for the summer. A store of meat was laid up for Hearne's voyage and a band of "Yellowknife
" Dene
joined the expedition. Matonabbee ordered his women to wait for his return in the Athabasca
country to the west.
The Dene
were generally a mild and peaceful people, however, they were in a state of conflict with the Inuit. A great number of Yellowknife Indians joined Hearne's party to accompany them to the Coppermine River with intent to murder Inuit, who were understood to frequent that river in considerable numbers.
On 14 July 1771, they reached the Coppermine River, a small stream flowing over a rocky bed in the "Barren Lands of the Little Sticks". A few miles down the river, just above a cataract
, were the domed wigwam
s of an Eskimo
camp. At 1 am on 17 July 1771 Matonabbee and the other Indians fell upon the sleeping "Esqguimaux" in a ruthless massacre. Approximately twenty men, women, and children were killed; this would be known as the Massacre at Bloody Falls
.
A few days later Hearne was the first European to reach the shore of the Arctic Ocean
by an overland route. By tracing the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean he had established there was no northwest passage
through the continent at lower latitudes.
This expedition also proved successful in its primary goal by discovering copper
in the Coppermine River basin; however, an intensive search of the area yielded only one four-pound lump of copper and commercial mining was not considered viable.
Matonabbee led Hearne back to Churchill by a wide westward circle past Bear Lake
in Athabasca Country. In midwinter he became the first European to see and cross Great Slave Lake
. Hearne returned to Fort Prince of Wales on 30 June 1772 having walked some 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) and explored more than 250000 square miles (647,497 km²).
to establish Fort Cumberland
, the second inland trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1774 (the first being Henley House, established in 1743, 200 km up the Albany River
). Having learned to live off the land, he took minimal provisions for the eight Europeans and two Home Guard Crees who accompanied him.
After consulting some local chiefs, Hearne chose a strategic site on Pine Island Lake in the Saskatchewan River
, 60 miles (96.6 km) above Basquia. The site was linked to both the Saskatchewan River trade route and the Churchill system.
He became governor of Fort Prince of Wales on 22 January 1776. On 8 August 1782 Hearne and his complement of 38 civilians were confronted by a French force
under the comte de La Pérouse
composed of three ships, including one of 74 guns, and 290 soldiers. As a veteran Hearne recognized hopeless odds and surrendered without a shot. Hearne and some of the other prisoners were allowed to sail back to England from Hudson Strait in a small sloop.
Hearne returned the next year but found trade had deteriorated. The Indian population had been decimated by smallpox
and starvation
due to the lack of normal hunting supplies of powder and shot. Matonabbee had committed suicide and the rest of Churchill’s leading Indians had moved to other posts. Hearne's health began to fail and he delivered up command at Churchill on 16 August 1787 and returned to England.
In the last decade of his life he used his experiences on the barrens, on the northern coast, and in the interior to help naturalists like Thomas Pennant
in their researches. His friend William Wales was a teacher at Christ's Hospital and he assisted Hearne to write A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean. This was published in 1795, three years after Hearne's death of dropsy
in November 1792 at the age of 47.
One of Wales's pupils, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge
, made a brief notebook entry where he mentioned Hearne's book. Hearne may have been one of the inspirations for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Hearne's journals and maps were proven correct by Sir John Franklin
when he verified the discovery of the massacre at Bloody Falls
during his own Coppermine Expedition of 1819-1822. He wrote:
Hearne is mentioned by Charles Darwin
in the sixth chapter of The Origin of Species
:
There is a Junior/Senior High School that was built and named after him in Inuvik, Northwest Territories
. A school in Toronto
, Ontario
was also built in his name in 1973.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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
Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with Dease Strait and thence Queen Maud Gulf. To the southeast lies Bathurst...
, via the Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson’s Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan.
Early life
Samuel Hearne was born in February 1745 in London, England. Hearne’s father was a senior engineer of the London Bridge Water Works but he died in 1748. Hearne joined the British Royal Navy in 1756 at the age of 12 as midshipman under the fighting captain Samuel HoodSamuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was a British Admiral known particularly for his service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars...
. He remained with Hood during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
, seeing considerable action during the conflict, including the bombardment of Le Havre
Raid on Le Havre
The Raid on Le Havre was a two-day naval bombardment of the French port of Le Havre early in July 1759 by Royal Navy forces under George Rodney during the Seven Years' War, which succeeded in its aim of destroying many of the invasion barges being gathered there for the planned French invasion of...
. At the end of the Seven Years' War, having served in the English Channel and then the Mediterranean, he left the navy in 1763. His activities during the next three years are unknown.
In February 1766, he joined the Hudson’s Bay Company as a mate on the sloop Churchill, which was then engaged in the Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
trade out of 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...
, Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" that has helped its growing tourism industry.-History:A variety of nomadic...
. Two years later he became mate on the brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
Charlotte and participated in the company’s short-lived black whale
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...
fishery. in 1767 he found the remains of James Knight's expedition. In 1768, he examined portions of the 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,...
coasts with a view to improving the cod fishery. During this time he gained a reputation for snowshoeing.
Hearne was able to improve his navigational skills by observing William Wales
William Wales (astronomer)
William Wales was a British mathematician and astronomer.-Early life:Wales was born around 1734 to John and Sarah Wales and was baptized in Warmfield that year...
who was at Hudson Bay during 1768–1769 after being commissioned by the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
to observe the Transit of Venus
Transit of Venus
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...
with Joseph Dymond.
Exploration
The English on Hudson Bay had long known that the Indians to the northwest used native copper, as indicated by such words as Yellowknife. When, in 1768, a northern Indian (some say it was MatonabbeeMatonabbee
Matonabbee was a Chipewyan hunter and leader. He traveled with Chief Akaitcho's older brother, Keskarrah. After his father died, Matonabbee spent some time living at Fort Prince of Wales where he learned to speak English....
) brought lumps of copper to Churchill, the governor, Moses Norton, decided to send Hearne in search of a possible copper mine. The basic theme of Hearne's three journeys is the Englishmen's ignorance of the methods of travel through this very difficult country and their dependence on Indians who knew the land and how to live off of it.
First Journey: Since there was no canoe route to the northwest, the plan was to go on foot over the frozen winter ground. Without canoes, they would have to carry as much food as possible and then live off the land. Hearne planned to join a group of northern Indians that had come to trade at Churchill and somehow induce them to lead him to the copper mine. He left Churchill on November 6, 1769 along with two company employees, two Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
hunters and a band of Chipewyans and went north across the Seal River
Seal River
The Seal River is a river in the Northern Region of Manitoba, Canada. It travels from Shethanei Lake to the Hudson Bay. The river was nominated for the Canadian Heritage Rivers System in 1987 and was officially listed in 1992.-Geography:...
, an east-west river north of Churchill. By the 19th their European provisions gave out and their hunters had found little game (Hearne had left too late in the season and the Caribou had already left the Barren Grounds for the shelter of the forested country further south.) They headed west and north, finding only a few ptarmigan
Ptarmigan
The Rock Ptarmigan is a medium-sized gamebird in the grouse family. It is known simply as Ptarmigan in Europe and colloquially as Snow Chicken or Partridge in North America, where it is the official bird for the territory of Nunavut, Canada, and the official game bird for the province of...
, fish and three stray Caribou. The Indians, who knew the country, had better sense than to risk starvation in this way and began deserting. When the last Indians left, Hearn and his European companions returned to the sheltered valley of the Seal River, where he was able to find venison, and reached Churchill on December 11.
Second Journey: Since he could not control the northern Indians, Hearne proposed to try again using 'home guards', that is, Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
who lived around the post and hunted in exchange for European supplies. He left Churchill on 23 February. Reaching the Seal River, he found good hunting and followed it west until he reached a large lake, probably Sethnanei Lake. Here he decided to wait for better weather and live by fishing. In April the fish began to give out. On the 24th a large body of Indians, mostly women, arrived from the south for the annual goose hunt. On the 19th of May the geese arrived and there was now plenty to eat. They headed north and east past Baralzone Lake. By June the geese had flown further north and they were again threatened with famine. At one point they killed three Muskoxen and had to eat them raw because it was too wet to light a fire. They crossed the Kazan River above Yathkyed Lake
Yathkyed Lake
Yathkyed Lake is a lake in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located between Angikuni Lake and Forde Lake, it is one of several lakes on the Kazan River....
where they found good hunting and fishing and then went west to Lake Dubawnt which is about 450 miles northwest of Churchill. On the 14th of August his quadrant
Quadrant (instrument)
A quadrant is an instrument that is used to measure angles up to 90°. It was originally proposed by Ptolemy as a better kind of astrolabe. Several different variations of the instrument were later produced by medieval Muslim astronomers.-Types of quadrants:...
was destroyed, which accounts for the inaccuracy of latitudes on the remainder to this and the next journey. At this point the sources become vague, but Hearne returned to Churchill in the autumn. On his return journey he met Matonabbee
Matonabbee
Matonabbee was a Chipewyan hunter and leader. He traveled with Chief Akaitcho's older brother, Keskarrah. After his father died, Matonabbee spent some time living at Fort Prince of Wales where he learned to speak English....
who was to be his guide on the next journey. Matonabbee may well have saved him from freezing or starving to death. Most of the land Hearne crossed on his second journey is very desolate and was not properly explored again until James Tyrrell
James Tyrrell
Sir James Tyrell was an English knight, a trusted servant of King Richard III of England. He is known for 'confessing' to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard's orders. However, his statement may have been taken under torture, so the confession might not be genuine...
in 1893.
Third Journey: Hearne contrived to travel as the only European with a group of Chipewyan
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...
guides led Matonabbee
Matonabbee
Matonabbee was a Chipewyan hunter and leader. He traveled with Chief Akaitcho's older brother, Keskarrah. After his father died, Matonabbee spent some time living at Fort Prince of Wales where he learned to speak English....
. The group also included eight of Matonabbee's wives to act as beasts of burden in the sledge traces, camp servants, and cooks. This third expedition set out in December 1770, to reach the Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
in summer, by which he could descend to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
in canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s.
Matonabbee kept a fast pace, so fast they reached the great caribou traverse before provisions dwindled and in time for the spring hunt. Here Northern Indian (Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
) hunters gathered to hunt the vast herds of caribou migrating north for the summer. A store of meat was laid up for Hearne's voyage and a band of "Yellowknife
Yellowknives
The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine are Aboriginal peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the Dene indigenous people that live in the Northwest Territories of Canada...
" Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
joined the expedition. Matonabbee ordered his women to wait for his return in the Athabasca
Athabasca
Athabasca is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w , meaning “grass or reeds here and there”.Related to the lake are several other geographical and administrative features called Athabasca...
country to the west.
The Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
were generally a mild and peaceful people, however, they were in a state of conflict with the Inuit. A great number of Yellowknife Indians joined Hearne's party to accompany them to the Coppermine River with intent to murder Inuit, who were understood to frequent that river in considerable numbers.
On 14 July 1771, they reached the Coppermine River, a small stream flowing over a rocky bed in the "Barren Lands of the Little Sticks". A few miles down the river, just above a cataract
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...
, were the domed wigwam
Wigwam
A wigwam or wickiup is a domed room dwelling used by certain Native American tribes. The term wickiup is generally used to label these kinds of dwellings in American Southwest and West. Wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the American Northeast...
s of an Eskimo
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
camp. At 1 am on 17 July 1771 Matonabbee and the other Indians fell upon the sleeping "Esqguimaux" in a ruthless massacre. Approximately twenty men, women, and children were killed; this would be known as the Massacre at Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls Massacre
The Massacre at Bloody Falls was an incident that took place during Samuel Hearne's exploration of the Coppermine River on 17 July 1771. Chipewyan and "Copper Indian" Dene men led by Hearne's guide and companion Matonabbee attacked a group of Copper Inuit camped by rapids approximately upstream...
.
...a young girl, seemingly about eighteen years of age, [was] killed so near me, that when the first spear was stuck into her side she fell down at my feet, and twisted round my legs, so that it was with difficulty that I could disengage myself from her dying grasps. As two Indian men pursued this unfortunate victim, I solicited very hard for her life; but the murderers made no reply till they had stuck both their spears through her body...even at this hour I cannot reflect on the transactions of that horrid day without shedding tears.
A few days later Hearne was the first European to reach the shore of the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
by an overland route. By tracing the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean he had established there was no northwest passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
through the continent at lower latitudes.
This expedition also proved successful in its primary goal by discovering copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
in the Coppermine River basin; however, an intensive search of the area yielded only one four-pound lump of copper and commercial mining was not considered viable.
Matonabbee led Hearne back to Churchill by a wide westward circle past Bear Lake
Bear Lake
-Lakes:In Canada:*Bear Lake , a lake in Crooked River Provincial Park, north of Prince George, British Columbia*Bear Lake , a lake in the northwestern Omineca Country of the North-Central Interior of British Columbia, part of the Skeena River drainage via the Bear and Sustut Rivers *Great Bear...
in Athabasca Country. In midwinter he became the first European to see and cross Great Slave Lake
Great Slave Lake
Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada , the deepest lake in North America at , and the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is long and wide. It covers an area of in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from to and up to ...
. Hearne returned to Fort Prince of Wales on 30 June 1772 having walked some 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) and explored more than 250000 square miles (647,497 km²).
Later life
Hearne was sent to SaskatchewanSaskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
to establish Fort Cumberland
Cumberland House, Saskatchewan
Cumberland House is a village in Census Division No. 18 in north-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada on the Saskatchewan River. It is the oldest community in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 2000 people...
, the second inland trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1774 (the first being Henley House, established in 1743, 200 km up the Albany River
Albany River
The Albany River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Lake St. Joseph in Northwestern Ontario and empties into James Bay. It is long to the head of the Cat River, tying it with the Severn River for the title of longest river in Ontario...
). Having learned to live off the land, he took minimal provisions for the eight Europeans and two Home Guard Crees who accompanied him.
After consulting some local chiefs, Hearne chose a strategic site on Pine Island Lake in the Saskatchewan River
Saskatchewan River
The Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada, approximately long, flowing roughly eastward across Saskatchewan and Manitoba to empty into Lake Winnipeg...
, 60 miles (96.6 km) above Basquia. The site was linked to both the Saskatchewan River trade route and the Churchill system.
He became governor of Fort Prince of Wales on 22 January 1776. On 8 August 1782 Hearne and his complement of 38 civilians were confronted by a French force
Hudson Bay Expedition
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...
under the comte de La Pérouse
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:...
composed of three ships, including one of 74 guns, and 290 soldiers. As a veteran Hearne recognized hopeless odds and surrendered without a shot. Hearne and some of the other prisoners were allowed to sail back to England from Hudson Strait in a small sloop.
Hearne returned the next year but found trade had deteriorated. The Indian population had been decimated by smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
due to the lack of normal hunting supplies of powder and shot. Matonabbee had committed suicide and the rest of Churchill’s leading Indians had moved to other posts. Hearne's health began to fail and he delivered up command at Churchill on 16 August 1787 and returned to England.
In the last decade of his life he used his experiences on the barrens, on the northern coast, and in the interior to help naturalists like Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
in their researches. His friend William Wales was a teacher at Christ's Hospital and he assisted Hearne to write A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean. This was published in 1795, three years after Hearne's death of dropsy
Edema
Edema or oedema ; both words from the Greek , oídēma "swelling"), formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body that produces swelling...
in November 1792 at the age of 47.
Legacy
On 1 July 1767 he chiseled his name on smooth, glaciated stone at Sloop's Cove near Fort Prince of Wales where it remains today.One of Wales's pupils, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
, made a brief notebook entry where he mentioned Hearne's book. Hearne may have been one of the inspirations for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Hearne's journals and maps were proven correct by Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
when he verified the discovery of the massacre at Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls is a waterfall in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park and is the site of the Bloody Falls Massacre and the murder of two priests by Copper Inuit Uloqsaq and Sinnisiak in 1913...
during his own Coppermine Expedition of 1819-1822. He wrote:
Several human skulls which bore the marks of violence, and many bones were strewed about the encampment, and as the spot exactly answers the description, given by Mr. Hearne, of the place...
Hearne is mentioned by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
in the sixth chapter of The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the...
:
In North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water.
There is a Junior/Senior High School that was built and named after him in Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
. A school in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
was also built in his name in 1973.
Further reading
- A Journey to the Northern Ocean: The Adventures of Samuel Hearne by Samuel Hearne. Foreword by Ken McGoogan. Published by TouchWood Editions, 2007.
- Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge's Masterpiece by Ken McGoogan. Published by Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004.
- Coppermine Journey: An Account of Great Adventure Selected from the Journals of Samuel Hearne by Farley Mowat. Published by McClelland & Stewart, 1958.
- Samuel Hearne and the North West Passage by Gordon Speck. Published by Caxton Printers, Ltd, 1963.
- Northern Wilderness by Ray Mears. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2009 Chapters 4-6
- A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort ... to the Northern Ocean by Samuel Hearne. 1795. PDF download at http://northernwaterways.com/library/content/view/71/46/ (44MB)
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Artikel "HEARNE, SAMUEL"