o trade at Fort Churchill
reported the {38} existence of a great mountain of copper beside a
river that flowed north into the sea; in proof of this, they exhibited
ornaments and weapons rudely fashioned from the metal. It is probable
that attempts were made quite early in the century by the servants of
the company to reach this 'Coppermine River' by advancing into the
interior. But more serious attempts were made by sea voyages along the
western shore of the bay. Such an expedition was sent out from England
under Governor Knight of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Captains Barlow
and Vaughan. In 1719 their two ships, the _Albany_ and the
_Discovery_, sailed from England, and were never seen again. Not until
half a century later was the story of their shipwreck on Marble Island
in the north of Hudson Bay and the protracted fate of the survivors
learned from savages who had been witnesses of the grim tragedy. Other
expeditions were sent northward from time to time, but without success
either in finding copper or in finding a passage westward through the
Arctic, which always remained at least an ostensible object of the
search.

It so happened that in 1768 the Northern Indians brought down to
Churchill such striking specimens of copper ore that the interest of
the {39} governor, Moses Norton, was aroused to the highest point. A
man of determined character, he took ship straightway to England and
obtained from the directors of the company permission to send an
expedition through the interior from Fort Churchill to the Coppermine
river. The accomplishment of this task he entrusted to one Samuel
Hearne, whose overland journey, successfully carried out in the years
1769 to 1772, was to prove one of the great landmarks in the
exploration of the Far North.

Hearne, a youth of twenty-four years, had been trained in a rugged
school. He had gone to sea at the age of eleven and at this tender age
had taken part in his first sea-fight. He served as a naval midshipman
during the Seven Years' War. At its conclusion he became a mate on one
of the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, in which position his
industry and ingenuity distinguished him among his associates. For
some years Hearne was employed in the fur trade north of the Churchill,
and gained a thorough knowledge of the coast of the bay. For the
expedition inland Norton needed especially a man able to record with
scientific accuracy the exact positions which he reache