Shipwrecked on Mansel Island, Hudson Bay: Dr Henry Brietzcke's Arctic health cruise, 1864

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Barr, William
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Hudson Bay; Hudson; Hudson Strait; York Factory; Mansel Island; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400020647; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400020647

ABSTRACT During 664 round trips between London and Hudson Bay from 1670 to 1913,21 of the supply ships of the Hudson's Bay Company were wrecked, mainly in the Bay or in Hudson Strait; a further seven were severely damaged. The year 1864 was remarkable in that out of three ships making the outward voyage to the Bay, two ran aground on Mansel Island only one hour apart. One ship, Prince Arthur , was wrecked and abandoned. The other, Prince of Wales , was refloated and was able to reach York Factory with Prince Arthur's crew on board. There Prince of Wales was condemned; the crews of both ships returned to England on board Ocean Nymph . The events of the double shipwreck, the sojourn of the crew at York Factory, and the voyage home have been reconstructed, mainly on the basis of the journal of the medical officer of the Prince Arthur , the logs of both ships, and other documents in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives.