Hearne, Samuel

(1745-1792)

   Came to Fort Prince of Wales on the Hudson's Bay Company's ship Prince Rupert. Under instructions from the Company, and after two abortive attempts, set forth in December, 1770, on his memorable journey to the mouth of the Coppermine River, which he reached in July of the following year. Returning by way of Great Slave Lake, arrived at Fort Prince of Wales in June, 1772. Two years later sent to the Saskatchewan, where he built Cumberland House. On his return in 1775, appointed governor of Fort Prince of Wales, and still in charge when the fort was captured by La Perouse in 1782. Brief accounts of his journey published after his return from the Coppermine, and some of his statements severely criticized by Alexander Dalrymple. The complete account of the expedition did not appear until three years after his death.

   Index: MS Sent inland by Hudson's Bay Company, 3; discovers Coppermine River and Great Slave Lake, 3, 31; builds Cumberland House, 4; magnitude of his explorations, 31; his guide Matonabee, 32. D His expedition to Coppermine River made on behalf of Hudson's Bay Company, 51; his discoveries known to Alexander Mackenzie, 53.

   Bib.: Works: Journey from Prince of Wales Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, etc., 1769-1772 (Lond., 1795). New ed., edited by J. B. Tyrrell, Champlain Soc., 1910; French trans. by M. Lallemant in 2 vols. (Paris, 1799). Also, abridged in Mavor's collection of Voyages, xxiv, 1-66. Brief accounts of Hearne and his explorations will be found in Bryce, Hudson's Bay Company; Willson, Great Company; Laut, Pathfinders of the West and Conquest of the Great North-West; Burpee, Search for the Western Sea.