author
Samuel Hearne
1745–1792
Best known for a remarkable overland journey to the Arctic Ocean, he was an English explorer, fur trader, and writer whose travels helped expand European knowledge of northern Canada. His lively travel narrative still stands out for its firsthand detail and sense of hardship.
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About the author
Born in London in 1745, Samuel Hearne went to sea at a young age and later joined the Hudson’s Bay Company. He is remembered as the first European known to reach the Arctic Ocean overland through northern Canada, traveling by way of the Coppermine River after earlier failed attempts.
Hearne’s journeys were not only geographic achievements. He carefully recorded the land, wildlife, and the people he met, and his observations made him an important early writer on the Canadian North. His book, A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, gave later readers a vivid picture of travel, trade, and survival in the far north.
He later served at Prince of Wales Fort before returning to England, where he died in 1792. Today he is remembered as an explorer and naturalist whose writing preserved an unusually detailed account of northern North America in the eighteenth century.