Prince of Wales Fort

   At the mouth of the Churchill River, Hudson Bay. Built by the Hudson's Bay Company, between the years 1733 and 1771. It was of massive masonry, 37 to 42 feet thick; 310 feet long on the north and south sides, and 317 on the east and west; and is said to have been designed by English military engineers. The walls are still standing, though parts have fallen in. The parapet mounted forty guns, which are still on the walls. See Tyrrell's Introduction to Hearne's Journey(Champlain Society ed., 1910). Hearne was governor of the fort in 1782, when it was captured by the French under Admiral La Perouse. The fort was built on Eskimo Point, just west of the mouth of the river. The present Hudson's Bay Company post stands on the site of a much earlier fort, built by the Company in 1688.

   Bib.: Bryce, Hudson's Bay Company; Laut, Conquest of the Great North-West.