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"Jl Forgotten Northern portress." 
 
 His Honor Lieutenant novernor Schultz, previous to read- 
 ing his paper on " A Forgotten Northern Fortresw" before the 
 Historical Society, said tliat he felt an apology to be due to 
 the President, officers and members of the Society for having 
 been unable to take upon himself u greater share of the 
 Society's work ; and that, in the presence of so many gentle- 
 men who had contributed so largely to its successful accom- 
 plishment, he felt that he was very far behind indeed. If, 
 however, a reasonable excuse could he found for him in the 
 precarious health and many engagements of the past, he 
 would promise, now that he was better, amendment for the 
 future, and, should the Council be able to give him an evening 
 some time soon, he would prepare for it some matter relating 
 to our early history, which might be of interest to the 
 society. It had been his practice, he said, since 1860 to 
 collect everything in the way of pamphlets, reports, news- 
 paper references and other ephemeral literature which related 
 to the country west of Lake Superior; and when these had 
 become numerous, to have them bound in volumes for preser- 
 vation. Among such records were many which were purely 
 historical, and he would endeavor, if possible, to select from 
 these, many of them dating back as far as 1857, such as 
 might be an addition to the Society's records. 
 
 With reference. His Honor said, to the paper he was about 
 to read, a few words of explanation might be advisable. He 
 had chosen for its title " A Forgotten Northern Fortress " as 
 being applicable, inasmuch as being far away from any route 
 of modern tourist or business travel, Fort Prince of Wales is 
 scarcely ever mentioned ; and its ruins are seldom seen by 
 other eyes than those on board the Hudson's Bay Company's 
 supply ship, which once a year visits those lonely shores. 
 For the photographic view of its ruins which he had placed 
 upon the table he was indebted to Professor Robert Bell, of 
 
tlic <^('i>l()<.''ic'iil sui'vcy, one of Mif Society's corresponding 
 iiieinbeis. To anotlior of its valued <'oiTespondin*r nieinhers, 
 .1. R. S{)en('er, Esq., for many years in chari^e of the Hudson's 
 Hay ( 'onspany's att'airs at Chuichill. whose lamentable death 
 occurred in this city a few months ajjo, lie was indebte<l for 
 the int(;reHtin<; plan of the fortress, drawn by Mr. Spencer 
 himself, which had also l)een laid on the table. The plan 
 of Chuichill harbor, its ap})roaches and .soundin<jfs, was a 
 rouifh tracinj.^ from the survey nuide by Lieut. A. H. (Jordon, 
 R.N., assisted l)y xMr. J. W. Tyrrell, P.L.S., in \HH(]. 
 
 Professor Bell, in writing; His Honor some time aoo, «;ave 
 the measurements of Fort Prince of Wales as about 300 feet 
 on each side, 20 feet high, 20 feet wide at top, with a wall 
 base of 30 feet, the southern and western walls being faced 
 with hammer dressed stone in regular courses, each stone 
 being about four feet long and two feet thick ; the other 
 walls are faced with sood rubble nutsonrv. There is a bastion 
 at each corner, and in each of these a well of water, still full, 
 for the supj)ly of the fort. " 1 counted nearly forty cannon on 
 the top of the walls, but as some of these are nearl}' covere<l 
 with rubbish, others are pioV)al)ly out of sight altogether." 
 
 The slight discrepancy between his estimate of the hei'^ht 
 and that of Mr. Spencei- may prolmbly be accounted for by 
 one observer including the foundation of the walls in the 
 height ; and the little difference in determiniuij the exact 
 wndth of the top of the wall mu.st be charged to the conilition 
 in which La Perouse's gunners (who tried their best to blow 
 up the whole fort), left that niore easily destroyed part. 
 
 His Honor then, turning to a large map, explained brietly 
 why Churchill, which i.s now like " Severn," a mere outpost of 
 York Factory, was once the great enti'epot of Hudson's Bay 
 trade ; and, on the map indicated the several exploratory 
 routes of Hearne, the Arctic search route of (]ai)tain, after- 
 w^ards Sir Geo)-ge, Back, the hunting trip of Warbui'ton Pike, 
 and the later important, difficult, but successful, route, follow- 
 
1 
 
 /^r 
 
 riemUers, 
 Hudson's 
 jle death 
 ibted for 
 Spencer 
 riie ])lan 
 >s, WHS a 
 :. Gordon, 
 
 ao'o, <jjave 
 :}00 feet 
 th a wall 
 'iniX faced 
 ach stone 
 the other 
 s a bastion 
 , still full, 
 cannon on 
 ly covere<l 
 ether." 
 
 the hei'iht 
 bed for l»y 
 ills in the 
 the exact 
 B condition 
 st to blow 
 part. 
 
 ned brietty 
 3 outpost of 
 idson's Bay 
 exploratory 
 •tain, after- 
 )urton Pike, 
 )ute, follow- 
 
 u 
 
 fe « 
 
 b V 
 
 ^ 5c 
 
 a. s 
 
 ^ i 
 
({ 
 
 « 
 in 
 
 e«l by Mr. J. B. Tynoll, of the Geidogical Suiv«iy ; after wliicli 
 the intereistiuw paper of His Hojior whs road by him as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 A FOROO'lTKN NOIITHKKN KOKTKESS. 
 
 The sixteenth century closed with that westtMii waterway 
 to the Indies, which all men sought who went "down to tin- 
 sea " in the quaintly rigged, queerly built ships of the period, 
 undiscovered ; and the earlier years of the seventeenth found 
 the ardor of search unabated, and the goal the same. Knglish 
 Kings and Queens, choosing more northern routes than had 
 the monarchs of Spain and Fiance, failed as they had ; Henry 
 the Eighth sent tlje Venetian Cabot, who found Labrador 
 barring trie way ; Elizabeth sent Frobisher, who, turning its 
 northern Hank, found only the ice-blocked strait which bears 
 his name. Davis and Wymouth followed ; but it was 
 reserved for the gallant Hudson to discover and sail into a 
 strait, apparently upon the direct route to the west, which 
 opening into a wide sea, that daring mariner must liave 
 thought the secret of two centuries unlocked, and fancied 
 that through fog and mist he scented the spice-laden breezes 
 of Cathay. In 1610, mariners were not easily daunted by 
 wreck and ruined hopes ; and Hudson's tragic fate in the 
 great sea he had discovered did not deter further search, for, 
 in the years which followed, the frightened Escjuimaux, flee- 
 ing in his kyack to relate to the old men of his band the 
 strange apparition which glinted white through the mist, and 
 was not the sheen of berg or floe, had but seen the sails of 
 other adventurers who still sought what men had been seek- 
 ing for three generations in vain. 
 
 Button and Bylot, Baffin, James and Fox, Hawkbridge and 
 Jones, all failed to find the desired passage ; and when Captain 
 Zachariah Gillam, accompanied by M. de Grosselier, sailed 
 into the bay in 1668, we may suppose that the English 
 merchants who sent him had in view, as well as the North- 
 west Passage, those I'ich furs which, brought back by other 
 voyagers, had begun to grace the shoulders of the beauties of 
 
the Louvre »iii<l of tlu? Enj»liHh court; for, aftrr winter- 
 ing and trading h) a rougli stone fort on the hay, he 
 returned to Kngland with reports wliich gained for his 
 patrons the aid of many gallant hut needy cavaliers in ohtain- 
 ing from " Charles the Second, hy the Grace of God, King of 
 England, Scotland, Frances an<l Ireland," in the year I()70 a 
 charter "of our ample and ahuntlant grace" to "our dear 
 (entirely helovcMl cousin, Prince Rupert," etc., etc., of what was 
 ecjual in j'xtent to several European kingdoms, with powers 
 which no potentate in Europe wouM dare to exercise to-day. 
 
 While the English monarch was thus clisposing of empire 
 to his favored cousin and courtiers, Richelieu was equally 
 active in Franct^ and parchment powers, signed " Henri " or 
 "(*harles," were given with that easy and reckless inuitfeience 
 to the rights of others peculiar to the time, leaving the overlapp- 
 ing boundaries of these vague grants to be rectified and adjusted 
 with the {)owder and steel of the grantees, and the toumhawk 
 and knife of their Indian allies, England assumed ownership 
 by right of maritime discovery ; France, by those land and 
 canoe explorations, which have left her language everywhere 
 in the West, in the names of river and lake, cape, promontory 
 and island. The English Company of Adventurers trading 
 into Hudson's Bay occupied the mouths of all the rivers with 
 palisaded forts or factories, and fished, hunte^v and traded 
 from them, visited once a year by ships, which were watched 
 for by that daring rover, D'Iberville, as Drake had watche<l 
 for the Spanish galleons. The forts were attacked, and often 
 destroyed, by the hardy voyageurs of New France. Suiprises 
 and reprisals continued, till Blenheim, Ramilies and Mapla- 
 quet had decided quarrels of more moment, and the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, in 1713, left the English in peaceable possession of 
 their forts, " factories and plantations," on Hudson's Bay. 
 
 With France thus prostrate, the English were to pursue, for 
 over sixty years, their profitable trade in peace ; but the 
 recollection of burning forts and plundered factories was still 
 keen, and the thunder of D'Iberville's guns not soon to be for- 
 
: 
 
 I i ' 
 
 
 gotten ; iiiul us tlu'ir tnuh' inoivBsod. thor** oixino with it tlio 
 ciesiro to fortify their ht>st bay harhor. ami pro!sorv»< tlu'ir 
 principal t'utn»jM>t frotu possihU* pUnulov; st) upon a rocky 
 spit, t'onnino' one sido of and couunandin^ tho harhor of 
 C/hurclull, was coinnioiieod Kort l^rino* of WaU-s. Vijioroiusly 
 at first was flio nuussivo thirty U^vt wi<it' to\indatit)n boj^un ; 
 not, howt'vrr, on the rud(> plan of former forts, hut frouj t\\o 
 drawinjjjs of niilitaiy on^jintuMs, who had sorvod umh'r Marl- 
 borough. Artisans woro brought from Kiiijlaiid ; tho soMtluMi\ 
 and vvostcrn walls were fared with haninier-drossed stone 
 bastions wt>re plaeed at (»aeh aiiolo with a w<>ll of water in 
 eaeli. and after many years of laboi- and «>\penso, four walls, 
 <>aeh over thi<'»» hundrt>d feet in lenjjth. 20 fei>t hijjh and 20 
 feet widi> at thi» top. eK)sed in and pi-ob'eted i^nwit stone bviild- 
 inijs. whieh contained each om* a piinc»>'s ransom in lich 
 northern furs. Kortv-two uuns «>f (ht> I h(>n lu'aviest calibre 
 furnishtMl the armnnient of tin* bastions and walls, and sti>n>s 
 of food W(>re provided to enable the d«>fenders to stand a. sieo'e. 
 The C^hipewyans. from the htr off Athabasca and (Ireat Sla\e 
 lakes, nuist have oa/tul with astonishmtMit at its massive walls 
 and portentous artillery; Mud its fanH> throuij^hout all nortluMu 
 tribes must havi» l>et>n ijreat indeed, and have environed with 
 a vajjjU(» res[)ect the ailventuious Hearui", who thrie<' lu^tweon 
 IT<)!> and 1772 left its j;;ates, twice to return battted and de- 
 feated, and lastly on that mt>st adxenturous of all Arctic huul 
 joiniieys, t.o return with tlu» s(>cr«>t of the Arctic const at the 
 mouth of tlu» (\)ppermine river in his po.ssession. Years 
 passed on. and as the ren\tMubrance of pilla>j;ed factori(>s faded 
 and tlu> pr(>ssure for in»M(>ased oain in their rich t.rad«> b(>canu» 
 ;j'reater, and tlu> bartt>r more inland, so did the nund»er of 
 ill »n kept at this .st»a.-harbor depot Ix^conu^ hvss, .so that it. was 
 with f^rcat surprist> on tlu> Mth of Auijust, 1782, that tin* 
 Miirty-nin(> defenders of th(> Priniu> of Wales Kort saw the 
 bi>llyin^ sails of three ships tuakini;' straight for their forti'css; 
 and when, at six in the ev(>ninj;, th(\y swunu; to their atichors 
 six nnles away, their pii>rce<l wides showinji" them to b(> vt\ssels 
 of war, their astonishnu'ut was jjjrcat inde«>d, Stran^j^ers thoy 
 
witl» it i\\o 
 sorvt* thoir 
 n a rocky 
 
 lunltor of 
 VijiorouHly 
 on boj^un ; 
 it from tho 
 \\n\vv Marl- 
 l»o soutlu>rn 
 ssi'd stoiu' 
 of Nvator in 
 
 fovn* walls. 
 \veh nnil '10 
 stono Imild- 
 oiM in lioh 
 vit'st calil>rt> 
 s. and stonvs 
 taml asioiiio. 
 (5roa(. Slavo 
 lassivo walls 
 , all nortluM-n 
 sironrd witl) 
 rii't' lu^t\vt>on 
 \\oi\ anil dr- 
 1 Arctic land 
 cojist at the 
 <sit)«». Years 
 i,otori«>s faded 
 trade hecame 
 e muulier of 
 «) that it. was 
 i8*2, that the 
 :<\)rt saw the 
 their fortress; 
 tluMr anchors 
 J to he vi\ss4>ls 
 tranj4;ers tl\t\v 
 
 
 i = 
 
 t 
 
 Bn ~ a 
 
 ^'^ i 
 
MMK 
 
 !i 
 
 10 
 
 evidently were, for soon pinnace, gig and long boat were 
 busy sounding the approach to the harbor. Day-break saw 
 them disembarking, and the morning's clear light showed to 
 the thirty-nine defenders of the fortress an array of four 
 hundred troops, bearing again the flag of France on those far 
 northern shores. The summons to surrender was followed by 
 a parley, and when the parley ended, the gallant La Perouse 
 found himself in bloodless possession of a fortress which, pro- 
 perly garrisoned, might have defied all the ships of Fra'^ie 
 that had e\ ar entered Hudson's Bay. 
 
 The French Admiral quickly transported the rich bales of 
 valuable furs to his ships, and replenished their depleted com- 
 missariat from the well-filled provision stores of the fort. 
 Then came the license of the soldiery and the looting of the 
 fort, to be followed by an attempt, which occupied two days, 
 to utterly demolish it. But although French gunpower was 
 fieely added to the vast English store, yet the walls of the 
 fort, this well built mass of masonry, resisted the best efforts 
 of the French artillerymen to do more than displace the upper 
 rows of the massive granite stones of which it was mainly 
 built, dismount its guns and blow up the gateway and the 
 stone outwork which protected it. 
 
 The capture of this far oft' northern fortress was cheaply 
 and easily performed by the adventurous Frenchman, who 
 extended his conquests around the shores of the bay ; but the 
 fortunes of war after a time turned again, and the Company 
 of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay, who, at their own 
 expense, had built the foi-t for the defence of their trade, sent 
 in a bill for many thousand sterling pounds to the British 
 Government, for failing to protect their factory at Churchill ; 
 and when, again, peace was proclaimed, it was after the 
 French plenipotentiaries had agreed to settle the bill for La 
 Perouse's capture and demolition of Fort Prince of Wales. It 
 was never rebuilt, and stands on that far-off' northern coast, 
 the still well preserved remains of a massive fortification, the 
 most northern one of British America, scarcely inferior, as 
 
 
br boat were 
 y-break saw 
 it showed to 
 rray of four 
 J on those far 
 s followed by 
 t La Perouse 
 ss which, pro- 
 ips of Frn^^c 
 
 rich bales of 
 depleted com- 
 3 of the fort, 
 looting of the 
 pied two days, 
 gunpower was 
 walls of the 
 the best ettbrts 
 place the upper 
 it was mainly 
 teway and the 
 
 iss was cheaply 
 frenchman, who 
 he bay ; but the 
 id the Company 
 ho, at their own 
 their trade, sent 
 9 to the British 
 >ry at Churchill ; 
 it was after the 
 , the bill for La 
 nee of Wales. It 
 T northern coast, 
 ! fortification, the 
 ■trcely inferior, as 
 
 11 
 
 such, to Louisburg, or early Quebec ; its site admirably 
 chosen ; its design and armament once perfect ; interesting 
 still as a relic of by -gone strife, but useful now only as a 
 beacon for the harbor it had failed to protect." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Bryce, at the close of the paper, moved a hearty 
 vote of thanks to His Honor, speaking in flattering terms of the 
 very interesting paper just read, and proposed that it be 
 printed, with copies of the chart of the harbor, plan of the 
 Fort, and the photographs, and placed in the archives of the 
 Society. 
 
 Mr. C. N. Bell, in seconding the motion, expressed regret 
 that this valuable paper should not have been reserved for a 
 future meeting when most interesting matters connected with 
 Hearne, and the capture of the fort might have been fully 
 discussed. 
 
 The President, Rev. Professor Baird, in tendering the vote 
 of thanks, stated that His Honor had underrated the aid 
 already given by him to the Society, and said that the Society 
 would value highly, and carefully keep the early documents 
 spoken of by the Governor, and that the Council would be 
 pleased to call a meeting whenever it suited His Honor's con- 
 venience. 
 
 NOTES REGARDING THE ABOVE. 
 
 The statement regarding the failure of La Perouse to en- 
 tirely destroy the fortress is from Professor Bell, of the Geo- 
 logical Survey, who learned it at Churchill from an aged 
 Indian, whose father was present at the capture of the fort. 
 The first view of Fort Prince of Wales is from Hearne's book, 
 the other views being from photographs taken by Professor 
 Bell. The map of the harbor is from the survej'^ of Lieut. 
 
i I 
 
 liN 
 
 't ; 
 
 12 
 
 Gordon and Mr. J. W. Tyrrell, P. L. S., and the following 
 notes have been kindly furnished me by Mr. C. N. Bell, who 
 has consulted the best authorities on the subject. 
 
 Fort Prince of Wales stands at the west side of the entrance 
 to the harbor at the mouth of the Churchill River, Hudson's 
 Bay. Its ruins may yet be seen occupying a most command- 
 ing position on a rocky promontory commanding Churchdl 
 harbor. The fort was built of stone, and at one time mounted 
 forty cannon of various sizes, some of them being quite large 
 for the date. Several years were consumed in the erection of 
 the fort, which was begun in the year 1733. Joseph Robson, 
 who was the surveyor in charge of construction for some 
 years, published a book on the operations of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, in 1752, in which he gives many details regarding 
 the size and form of the fort. A cut published in Robson's 
 book shows the form of the structure to be a square of three 
 hundred feet, with a massive bastion at each corner. Robson 
 states that the original intention was to have the walls forty- 
 two feet thick at the foundation, but through the interference 
 of the Trading Governor of the post, they were reduced to 
 twenty -five feet, though as the cannon on being fired from the 
 walls rolled off', one side was pulled down and rebuilt accord- 
 to the original plan. Three of the bastions had arches for 
 storehouses, forty feet three inches by ten feet, and in the 
 fourth was built a stone magazine twenty-four feet long and 
 ten feet wide in the clear with a passage to it through the 
 gorge of the bastion twenty-four feet long and four feet wide. 
 The paiapet was originally constructed of wood supplied by 
 demolishing the old fort situated five miles up the Churchill 
 River, the site of which was first occupied in 1688, but in 
 1746 Robson began erecting the stone parapet. Robson's 
 plan shows that two houses, a dwelling and office building, 
 were erected inside the fort, and incidently he describes one 
 of the two as being 101 feet 6 inches by 33 feet with side 
 walls of 17 feet height, and the roof covered with lead. 
 
 Fort Prince of Wales was captured by the French 
 Admiral on the 9th August, 1782, and in his own book 
 
 J 
 
the following 
 N. Bell, who 
 
 jf the entrance 
 ,iver, Hudson's 
 io8t command- 
 iing Churchill 
 ! time mounted 
 ing quite large 
 the erection of 
 Joseph Robson, 
 ictiou for some 
 e Hudson's Bay 
 tails regarding 
 ed in Robson's 
 square of three 
 orner, Robson 
 the walls forty- 
 the interference 
 vere reduced to 
 1(1 fired from the 
 1 rebuilt accord- 
 had arches for 
 feet, and in the 
 ur feet long and 
 it through the 
 ,d four feet wide, 
 ood supplied by 
 ap the Churchill 
 in 1688, but in 
 irapet. Robson's 
 I office building, 
 he describes one 
 33 feet with side 
 veved with lead, 
 by the French 
 ti his own book 
 
 pq 
 
 £ 
 
 
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 Ifli 
 
 14 
 
 " La Perouse's Voyages," published in Paris 1788, he writes 
 that he had with him the " Sceptre, carrying 74 guns ; 
 the Astarte and the Engageante, carrying each 36 guns ; 4 
 field guns, 2 mortars and 300 bombshells," They sighted the 
 fort on the evening of the 8th August, and anchored in eigh- 
 teen fathoms of water. An officer sent to reconnoitre the 
 approaches to the fort reported that the vessels could be 
 brought to bear on it at a very short distance. La Perouse, 
 thinking that the Sceptre would not easily subdue the enemy 
 if they resisted, prepared to make a descent during the night, 
 and without difficulty the boats landed about two miles from 
 the fort. La Perouse seeing no preparations made for defence, 
 although the fort seemed to be in a good state, summoned the 
 enemy, the gates were opened, and the Governor and garrison 
 surrendered at discretion. Thus it will be seen from an 
 account written by the French, that the Company's people 
 surrendered without firing a shot. The Governor at that 
 time in charge of the fort was Samuel Hearne, and it is ex- 
 ceedingly strange that he, who had amply proved his personal 
 bravery during his Arctic journeys when he discovered the 
 Coppermine River in 1772, should on this occasion show such 
 a cowardly front to an enemy. Umfreville, who was taken 
 prisoner at the capture of the fort, wrote a full account of the 
 affair to the English papers in April, 1783, and it agrees with 
 the account given by La Perouse. Umfreville was disgusted 
 with the cowardice shown by Hearne, and says that the 
 French were weak and reduced in health after a long sea 
 voyage, most of them poorly clad and only half of them had 
 shoes. Hearne was taken as a prisoner of war by the Admiral 
 to France. J. S. 
 
^88, he writes 
 ig 74 guDs; 
 
 I 36 guns; 4 
 sy sighted the 
 lored in eigh- 
 jconnoitre the 
 isels could be 
 
 La Perouse, 
 lue the enemy 
 ring the night, 
 wo miles from 
 ide for defence, 
 summoned the 
 :)T and garrison 
 
 seen from an 
 npany's people 
 vernor at that 
 s, and it is ex- 
 zed his personal 
 
 discovered the 
 asion show such 
 who was taken 
 
 II account of the 
 d it agrees with 
 B was disgusted 
 d says that the 
 after a long sea 
 lalf of them had 
 r by the Admiral 
 
 J. S. 
 
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