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| Rupert River |
It was 350 years ago today, on 29 September 1668 that Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers and the crew of the Nonsuch reached Rupert River on James Bay, in present-day Quebec, Canada. [1]
The Nonsuch and the Eaglet, on which Chouart’s business partner Pierre-Esprit Radisson travelled, left London a few months earlier in June. [2] Bad weather forced the Eaglet to return to England, but Chouart’s ship, under Captain Zachariah Gillam, continued to its destination. [3]
Chouart, the French explorer and fur trader, and the ship’s crew made camp at Rupert River and settled in for the winter. The following spring, “almost 300 peaceful Cree” arrived to trade beaver pelts. [4]
The success of this trip led to the creation of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670. [5]
Photo credit:
Wikipedia contributors, "Rupert River", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_River : accessed 26 September 2018).
Sources:
1. HBC Heritage (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/technology/the-nonsuch : accessed 25 September 2018), “Nonsuch”.
2. Peter C. Newman, Company of Adventurers: The Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 2 vols., (Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1985), I: 107.
3. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 108.
4. HBC Heritage (http://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/technology/the-nonsuch : accessed 25 September 2018), “Nonsuch”.
5. Newman, Company of Adventurers, I: 110.
Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.
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