Commander of the Wear. The pleasure we felt in welcoming the
latter gentleman can easily be imagined, when it is considered what
reason we had to apprehend that he and his crew had been
numbered with the dead. We learned that one of the larger masses
of ice had providentially drifted between the vessel’s side and the
rocks just at the time he expected to strike, to which he secured it
until a breeze sprang up, and enabled him to pursue his voyage.
The Governor acquainted me that he had received information
from the Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company of the equipment
of the Expedition, and that the officers would come out in their
first ship. In the evening Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hood, and I, accompanied
him to York Factory, which we reached after dark; it
is distant from the Flats seven miles. Early next morning the
honour of a salute was conferred on the members of the ExpeditHioanv.
ing communicated to the Governor the objects of t' he TE,xpedition,
and that I had been directed to consult with him and the
senior servants of the Company as to the best mode of proceeding
towards the execution of the service, I was gratified by his assurance
that his instructions from the Committee directed that every possible
assistance should be given to forward our progress, and that he should
feel peculiar pleasure in performing this part of his duty. He introduced
me at once to Messrs. Charles, Swaine, and Snodie, masters
of districts, who, from long residence in the country, were perfectly
acquainted with the different modes of travelling, and the obstructions
which might be anticipated. At the desire of these gentlemen,
I drew up a series of questions on the points on which we required
information ; to which they had the kindness to return very
explicit and satisfactory answers two days afterwards; and on receiving
them I requested the Governor to favour me with his sentiments
on the same subject in writing, which he delivered to me on
the following day.
Having learned that Messrs. Shaw, M‘Tavish, and several other
partners of the jST.W. Company, were under detention at this place,
we took the earliest opportunity of visiting them ; when, having presented
the general circular, and other introductory letters, with
which I had been furnished by their agent Mr. Simon M'Gillivray,
we received from them the most friendly and full assurance of the
cordial endeavours of the wintering partners of their Company to promote
the interests of the Expedition. The knowledge we had now
gained of the state of the violent commercial opposition existing in
the country, rendered this assurance highly gratifying ; and these
gentlemen added to the obligation by freely communicating the information
respecting the interior of the country, which their intelligence
and long residence so fully qualified them to give.
I deemed it expedient to issue a memorandum to the officers of
the Expedition, strictly prohibiting any interference whatever in the
existing quarrels, or any that might arise, between the two Companies:
and on presenting it to the principals of both the parties,
they expressed their satisfaction at the step I had taken.
The opinions of all the gentlemen were so decidedly in favour of
the route by Cumberland House, and through the chain of posts to
the Great Slave Lake, that I determined on pursuing it, and immediately
communicated my intention to the Governor, with a request
that he would furnish me with the means of conveyance for the
party as speedily as possible.
It was suggested in my instructions that we might probably
prpcure a schooner at this place, to proceed north as far as Wager
Bay ; but the vessel alluded to was lying at Moose F actory, completely
out of repair ; independently of which, the route directly to
the northward was rendered impracticable by the impossibility of
procuring hunters and guides on the coast.
I found that as the Esquimaux inhabitants had left Churchill a
month previous to our arrival, no interpreter from that quarter