Geographical Notes

Abstract

THE paper read at Monday's meeting of the Royal Geographical Society was on Hudson's Bay and Hudson's Strait as anavigable channel, by Commander Markham. It was really a brief sketch of a much larger memoir on Hudson's Bay which Commander Markham has prepared, and which will ultimately be published by the Society. For some years investigations have been carried on with a view to discover whether the navigation of Hudson's Bay could be so depended on as to justify its acceptance as a regular trade route, in conjunction with a railway, to the more northerly parts of Canada. Commander Markham briefly sketches the history of navigation in Hudson's Bay, and concludes with the results of his own visit in the summer of 1886 on board the Alert. The result, he states, of all the experience gathered from voyages during two centuries, and from observations at the stations, is that Hudson's Strait is perfectly navigable and free from ice in August and later in the season. It must be remembered that this passage has been successfully accomplished nearly every year for the last two centuries, while the vessels that have been employed on the service have been ordinary sailing-ships, dependent entirely on wind and weather. It is very rare indeed that they have failed to get through, and still more rare that any of them have been destroyed by the ice. It appears from the official records of the Hudson's Bay Company that Moose Factory, on the southern shore of the bay, has been visited annually by a ship since 1735, with but one exception, namely in 1779, when the vessel for once failed to achieve the passage of the strait. The percentage of losses by shipwreck among these vessels employed in Hudson's Bay is far less than would have to be recorded in a like number of ships engaged in general ocean traffic. Commander Markham pointed out that until quite recently only sailing-vessels attempted to navigate Hudson's Bay, and maintained that with a properly constructed steam-vessel, there need be neither difficulty nor danger. The establishment of new routes for commerce, Commander Mark-ham concluded, is always a gain to the science of geography. In come cases new regions have to be discovered and explored. In others the physical aspects of an already known region must be more carefully studied, and many points of interest relating to the action of climates, or of winds and currents, may be ascertained. The proposed Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railroad is a striking instance. The objections of opponents to the route have had to be carefully examined. All former experience had to be collected, maturely considered, and passed in review. Observatories had to be established at several points, to make certain whether the historical records actually coincided with physical facts as they now exist. The route itself had to be sailed over and explored. All these various researches have been as great again to geography as to commerce. They have enriched our science with a fresh stock of information, have revised previous conceptions, and confirmed or rejected, as the case may be, the theories and views which may have been put forward. From this point of view, and from this point of view alone, can commercial or political questions receive consideration here. The study of the Hudson's Bay route involves a problem for which physical geography alone can furnish a solution.