Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America
Effected by the Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company during the Years 1836–1839

Thomas Simpson's account of surveying the North-West Passage, published by his brother in 1843, after his alleged suicide.

Thomas Simpson (Author)

9781108041362, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 December 2011

446 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.56 kg

In 1829, Thomas Simpson (1808–1840), born in Dingwall, Scotland, joined the fur-trading Hudson's Bay Company. Under its auspices, he was the junior officer of a successful survey expedition along the North-West Passage, beyond the limits of Franklin's disastrous 1819–22 attempt. The Royal Geographical Society awarded Simpson their Founder's Medal; however the Company refused his request immediately to lead an expedition further east along the coast. Simpson, ambitious and furious, set out for London, hoping to secure approval there, but before he reached the Atlantic, he was shot in the head. The men who had accompanied him alleged that he went mad, and killed two of them before committing suicide. Simpson's own account of his explorations was edited by his brother, Alexander, and published in 1843 in an attempt to restore his reputation. It sheds light on Simpson's difficult character and also on the contribution of trade interests to exploration.

Memoir of Thomas Simpson, A. M. Alexander Simpson
1. Introduction
2. Description of a winter journey from Red River to Athabasca
3. Occurrences at Fort Chipewyan, Spring 1837
4. Descent from Athabasca to the Polar Sea
5. Voyage from Mackenzie River to Franklin's Return Reef
6. Discoveries on the coast from Return Reef up to Boat Extreme
7. Journey on foot, and in an Esquimaux canoe, to Point Barrow
8. Return of the expedition from Boat Extreme to the Mackenzie
9. Transactions at Fort Confidence, Winter 1837–8
10. Ascent of Dease River
11. Second sea voyage
12. Journey on foot and important discoveries to the eastward
13. Transactions at Fort Confidence, Winter 1838–9
14. Second descent of the Coppermine
15. Stupendous bay, broken into minor bays, and bordered by countless islands
16. Wintry return to Fort Confidence
Appendix. List of the plants collected during the Arctic journey of Messrs Simpson and Dease W. J. Hooker
Table of the magnetic variation and dip observed by Mr Simpson.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]