Hudson's Bay Company History

Getting Around

HBC History

Introduction Trading Getting Around Settling Down Taking Care of Business

The fur trade connected Britain and North America. This connection was originally made possible by wooden sailing vessels. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was founded after the 1668 voyage of the Nonsuch had demonstrated the commercial feasibility of sailing through Hudson Straits and into Hudson Bay in order to acquire furs. Maritime voyages remained an important part of the HBC's life until the sale of its last ship, M.V. Kanguk, in 1987. In the 1800s HBC ships sailed around Cape Horn to the west coast of North America; in the 1900s they sailed to Canada's Arctic and the Russian Far East. In the First World War the HBC, as the chief purchasing and shipping agent of the French and other Allied governments, operated a great merchant fleet.

Inland travel on the North American continent tied together the wide-spread posts of the fur trade. HBC men and their families traveled on foot, with snowshoes, on horseback and by dogsled. A variety of water craft—canoes, York boats, sternwheel steamers—plied the water routes. The HBC purchased its first aircraft in 1939.

Some of the fur traders travelled in territory that was new to Europeans though well known, of course, to Aboriginal people. This elevated what were essentially business trips to the realm of exploration. Men such as David Thompson, Samuel Hearne, Philip Turnor and Peter Fidler became famous as explorers and map makers.

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