Chapter I: Front Matter

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NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC SEA IN 1846 AND 1847.

by

JOHN RAE,

Hudson Bay Company's Service, Commander of the Expedition.

With Maps.

London: T. & W. Boone, 29, New Bond Street. 1850.

Marchant Singer and Co., Printers, Ingram-Court, Fenchurch-Street.

TO
SIR GEORGE SIMPSON,
_Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land_,
THE ZEALOUS PROMOTER OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY,
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT AND REGARD
BY THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAPTER I.

Object and plan of the Expedition--Equipment at York
Factory--Boats--Crews--Articles useful in an Arctic
Voyage--Breaking up of the ice in Hayes and Nelson
Rivers--Departure from York Factory--Progress retarded by the
ice--First night at sea--Reflections--Rupert's Creek--Unbroken
fields of ice--Broad River--Description of the Coast--Double
Cape Churchill--Open sea to the north and north-west--Arrive at
Churchill--White whales--Mode of catching them--Sir George
Simpson's instructions--Stock of provisions 1

CHAPTER II.

Depart from Churchill--A gale--Anchor in Knap's Bay--Land on an
island--Esquimaux graves--Visited by Esquimaux--A large river
running into Knap's Bay--Nevill's Bay--Corbet's Inlet--Rankin's
Inlet--Cape Jalabert--Greenland whales seen--Chesterfield
Inlet--Walruses--Cape Fullerton--Visited by an
Esquimaux--Reefs--Cape Kendall seen--Ice packed against the
shore--Take shelter in an excellent harbour--River
traced--Seals--Gale--Ice driven off--Direction of the tides
reversed--Whale Point--Many whales seen--Again stopped by the
pack--Wager River estuary--Ice drifts--Eddy currents--No second
opening into Wager River seen--Enter Repulse Bay--Interview with
Esquimaux--No intelligence of Sir John Franklin 19