Battle of Hudson's Bay

Noah walked with a weight on him as he entered his grandparent’s house. He found a place on the couch as his younger sister, Hannah, moved with excited energy to give her grandfather a hug. Their mother followed behind the happy young lady. While hugging his granddaughter and listening to her news about getting an ‘A’ on her latest spelling test, Jon listened carefully to Hannah while noticing Noah’s demeanor. Jon noticed the silent distress of his grandson.

“Where’s grandma?” asked Hannah.

“She is in the garden. I’m sure she would love to hear about your news.”

“Okay,” she responded as she turned to head out to the garden with the same energy as when she had entered the house.

“So, what is happening with you?” asked Jon.

“Nothing,” shrugged Noah.

“He’s upset because his team lost its last two games of the playoff,” answered his mother, who was standing beside her father, for him.

“Is that right? How many games do you have for this playoff?” asked Jon taking a seat on a chair facing the sofa.

“We have five altogether,” sighed Noah.

“How many have you played so far? I thought I heard that you won the first one.”

“We did, but they beat us in the last two.”

“So, you have two more games to win,” smiled Noah’s mother, “I know if your team wants it enough, you can do this.”

“Hmm, let me see, have you ever heard of the Battle of Hudson’s Bay?” asked Jon.

“Battle of Hudson’s Bay?” asked Noah.

“Yes, it was one of the biggest and most important naval battle ever fought in North American waters,” replied Jon, “Surprised they didn’t teach you about it.”

“I never heard of it, dad.”

“I think it would be a great story from which you could learn a lot,” explained Jon.

“Well dad, you’re the history professor. What can this Battle of Hudson Bay teach us and how does it have anything to do with Noah’s playoffs?”

Expecting this trained response from his daughter, Jon delighted in saying, “Why sure, allow me to enlighten you.”

He sat back in his chair making sure that he was situated in a comfortable position. Noah took this as a sign that it was going to be a long one and adjusted his position as his mother sat next to him on the sofa.

“Well, this was a long time ago at the end of the 17th Century. It was the same old nemeses, France and England.”

“France and England, I thought they were allies?” asked Noah.

“Oh sure, now they are. But for a long time, they had been competitors on the world theater. They even had a major war over who would be the king of France which was known as the Hundred Years War.”

“I’ve heard of that,” chirped up Noah taking an interest, “Did it really last one hundred years?”

“Well, it lasted longer than one hundred years, but at the same time, it wasn’t a continuous fight. They would fight for some time and then they would take some time off from fighting and then start up again and this happened over and over, but basically, the war was over the same things such as who would be king of France and who controlled what in France. It actually gets a bit complicated.”

“Well, I learned something today,” remarked Noah’s mother sounding very positive about it all.

“They would run into conflict with one another over the years, especially during the period of when Europe was colonizing various parts of the world. This was especially true in North America as both competed for territory. There were a lot of resources in North America they desired to tap into and take advantage. One of these resources were furs such as beaver pelts.”

“Beaver pelts?” asked Noah.

“Yes, they were quite popular among Europeans. In fact, almost a century later, while as an ambassador to the French Court in an attempt to gain French support in their struggle to free themselves from British control, Benjamin Franklin wore a beaver pelt hat to show the French for what they were helping to fight. And in the late 17th Century, Hudson Bay was easy access to some of the richest areas. If they didn’t have access to Hudson Bay, trappers would have to travel over land through dangerous hundreds of miles of dangerous territories. With control of Hudson Bay, companies such as the Hudson Bay Company could ship large groups of trappers, and they would be able to fill the ships with pelts. This could result in huge profits for the shareholders.”

“Was it because of the Native Americans which made it so dangerous?” asked Noah.

Delighted that his grandson was taking such an interest, Jon explained, “Among other things, on the overland routes there wasn’t protection, there weren’t even roads. It was a hard long trek to get to these rich territories. But with the Hudson Bay, you could reach these areas with huge groups of people and tons of supplies to use to set up defenses and posts to assist and protect the trappers. Both the English and the French wanted control of this for those reasons and many others.”

“Easy to see why it was so important,” commented Noah.

“Indeed, the French already had control of what would be known as the St. Lawrence Seaway which was a river which connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and if they had control of Hudson Bay, they would dominate the region. English already laid claims to Hudson Bay because Henry Hudson, an English explorer, had discovered and claimed the bay for the crown.”

“And the French wanted it?” asked Noah.

“Of course, and they had been encroaching upon the area for some time because it was so wealthy in these furs and other desired resources. This was all during the Nine Years’ War in which the French were fighting a European Coalition of which England was a part One day, a French Captain by the name of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville guided his ship, the Pelican into the harbor. It was a fourth-rate ship of the line.”

“What’s a ship of the line?” asked his daughter.

“It’s a warship, sort of the forerunners of battleships,” answered Jon, “He entered the bay and attacked two Hudson’s Bay Company ships he had found. However, there was also an English fourth-rate ship of the line, HMS Hampshire, captained by John Fletcher. Even though the English had more guns combined than the Pelican, d’Iberville chose to fight. He managed to fight off the two smaller ships and headed right for HMS Hampshire. Both the Pelican and Hampshire were fairly evenly matched, but the Pelican had already been through a fight with the other two, but d’Iberville fought on bravely.”

“Did d’Iberville win?” asked Noah.

“This battle raged on for hours and the Pelican had received some devastating hits. It had even had a hole in its hull below the waterline. Fletcher was sure the battle was over and yelled out asking the French if they surrendered.”

“Did they?” asked Noah.

“No, d’Iberville continued to fight but Fletcher was sure that the battle was over and that he had won, it is said that he raised a glass of wine as he took his ship on a maneuver to hit the Pelican with a death blow. However, there was an uncharted shoal, and the Hampshire hit it. It hit with such force, in such a way that it broke up and sank losing all hands.”

“What, so d’Iberville won even though his ship was sinking?” demanded Noah incredulously.

“Yes, even though it looked like certain doom, he won due to a mistake by the English.”

“So, what happened to d’Iberville?” asked his daughter.

“He was able to beach the Pelican before it sunk and he claimed one of the Hudson’s Bay Company ships which had capitulated to him when the English ship of the line sunk. That was before he beached the Pelican. His crew grabbed whatever supplies they could from the ship. A few days later the French reinforcements arrived and with his crew he took charge of the York Company which was established in the area. It also solidified France’s claim to what was called New France and would eventually be lost to the British and named Canada.”

“So, what you’re saying is that it isn’t over till it is over?” suggested Noah.

“Absolutely, history is full of examples of what seemed like definite doom but turned out to be a win,” responded Jon, “d’Iberville didn’t give up. Even though his own ship was sinking, even though it looked as if Fletcher was going to win, d’Iberville didn’t quit and won. Lesson is, never give up.

“Okay, so they won the last two games, but you could still win with the right attitudes.”

“But we could still lose.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, there is that chance. But it is even more of a chance if you start feeling sorry for yourself and give up mentally. But it is still a chance that you will lose or win. Besides, even if you go in there with the right attitude and still don’t win, didn’t you still learn a lot of things about the game and yourself while having fun?”

“Yes, but now knowing that things aren’t over yet, I going to play as if we are going to win.”

“Excellent, let’s go enjoy the outdoors with grandma.”