- 1994 edition. 393 pages
- Published by The Hakluyt Society, London.
- Hardcover with dust jacket. Light blue boards. Format C
- Very good condition. Minor shelf wear to dust jacket. Small owner stamp on free front end paper.
Two Volume Set. Volume I: The Voyage of Christopher Middleton 1741-1742. Volume II: The Voyage of William Moor and Francis Smith 1746-1747. Both volumes are listed on the website.
This book is Volume II. Hakluyt Soceity, Second Series, Volume 181. Illustrated and Indexed.
This second volume deals with the privately-financed expedition sent four years after Middletons on the same quest, commanded by William Moor and Francis Smith.
Once more Arthur Dobbs was the prime mover, this time with the help of an association of merchants, the North West Committee, and once more he was to be disappointed by the outcome.
Quarrelsome captains, tensions during the wintering at York Factory, confused explorations, and rival accounts, made a mockery of the hopes of Dobbs and his associates. After the return of the expedition, the attention of its sponsors turned to a direct attack on the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company. Although the Northwest Passage continued to be used as a weapon against the Company, the question of its existence slipped from centre-stage to the wings.
Once again, there is a wealth of material concerning the voyage: printed accounts by Henry Ellis and the mysterious 'Clerk of the California; a manuscript journal by Francis Smith; and the journal, letters and 'Obesrvations' of James Isham, the Hudson's Bay Company factor at York.
The voulme also includes extracts from private and offical correspondence, parliamentary papers, and contemporary pamphlets. Appendix I investigates the apocryphal voyage of Admiral De Fonte; and Appendix II contains a critical analysis of the different accounts of the expedition.
Whatever else the expeditions of 1741-2 and 1746-7 accomplished, the publicity given to their explorations brought a greatly increaed interest in Hudson Bay and its hinterland. This interest was not always accompanied by accurate and dispassionate information.
Even so, a comparison of the knowledge avaliable about the geography, trade and native inhabitants of the Bay area at the time of the Parliamentary enquiry of 1749 with the situation before Middleton's voyage, represents a breakthrough in British perceptions of the Canadian sub-Arctic.
Product is in stock.
