Hudson Bay | Page 9

tusks.
These are not very large, and are of inferior quality.
As we approached the shores of the straits, we shortened sail and fired
three or four guns, but no noisy "chimo" floated across the water in
answer to our salute; still we lingered for a while, but, as there was no
sign of the natives on shore, the captain concluded they had gone off to
the interior, and he steered out to sea again. I was very much
disappointed at this, as it was wholly unexpected, and Wiseacre and I
had promised ourselves much pleasure in trading with them; for which
purpose all the buttons of our old waistcoats had been amputated. It
was useless, however, to repine, so I contented myself with the hope
that they would yet visit us in some other part of the straits. We
afterwards learned that our guns had attracted them to the coast in time
to board the Prince Albert (which was out of sight astern), though too
late for us.
The passage across Hudson Bay was stormy, but no one on board cared

for this, all having become accustomed to rough weather. For my part, I
had become quite a sailor, and could ascend and descend easily to the
truck without creeping through the lubber's hole. I shall not forget the
first time I attempted this: our youngest apprentice had challenged me
to try it, so up we went together--he on the fore and I on the main mast.
The tops were gained easily, and we even made two or three steps up
the top-mast shrouds with affected indifference; but, alas! our courage
was failing--at least mine was--very fast. However, we gained the
cross-trees pretty well, and then sat down for a little to recover breath.
The topgallant-mast still reared its taper form high above me, and the
worst was yet to come. The top-gallant shrouds had no ratlines on them,
so I was obliged to shin up; and, as I worked myself up the two small
ropes, the tenacity with which I grasped them was fearful. At last I
reached the top, and with my feet on the small collar that fastens the
ropes to the mast, and my arms circling the mast itself--for nothing but
a bare pole, crossed by the royal-yard, now rose above me--I glanced
upwards. After taking a long breath, and screwing up my courage, I
slowly shinned up the slender pole, and, standing on the royal-yard,
laid my hand upon the truck. After a time I became accustomed to it,
and thought nothing of taking an airing on the royal-yard after
breakfast.
About the 5th or 6th of August, the captain said we must be near the
land. The deep-sea lead was rigged, and a sharp lookout kept, but no
land appeared. At last, one fine day, while at the mast-head, I saw
something like land on the horizon, and told them so on deck. They
saw it too, but gave me no answer. Soon a hurried order to "Dowse
top-gallant-sails and reef top-sails" made me slide down rather hastily
from my elevated position. I had scarcely gained the deck, when a
squall, the severest we had yet encountered, struck the ship, laying her
almost on her beam-ends; and the sea, which had been nearly calm a
few minutes before, foamed and hissed like a seething caldron, and
became white as snow. This, I believe, was what sailors call a white
squall. It was as short as it was severe, and great was our relief when
the ship regained her natural position in the water. Next day we saw
land in earnest, and in the afternoon anchored in "Five Fathom Hole,"
after passing in safety a sandbar, which renders the entrance into this

roadstead rather difficult.
Here, then, for the first time I beheld the shores of Hudson Bay; and
truly their appearance was anything but prepossessing. Though only at
the distance of two miles, so low and flat was the land, that it appeared
ten miles off, and scarcely a tree was to be seen. We could just see the
tops of one or two houses in York Factory, the principal depot of the
country, which was seven miles up the river at the mouth of which we
lay. In a short time the sails of a small schooner came in sight, and in
half an hour more the Frances (named after the amiable lady of the
governor, Sir George Simpson) was riding alongside.
The skipper came on board, and immediately there commenced
between him and the captain a sharp fire of questions and answers,
which roused me from a slumber in which I had been indulging, and
hurried me on deck. Here the face of things had changed. The hatches
were off, and bales of