Thomas Simpson (explorer)
Thomas Simpson | |
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Founder's Medal (1839) |
Thomas Simpson (2 July 1808 – 14 June 1840) was a Scottish
Early life
Simpson was born in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland, the son of magistrate Alexander Simpson (1751–1821), a schoolteacher, by his second wife Mary, who had helped raise George Simpson. Thomas had a half-brother, Aemilius, and a full brother, Alexander.[1] He was a sickly and timid youth, avoiding rough sport. After his father's death the family ended up in financial distress, but despite this he was given a proper education.[1]
Simpson was educated with a view to his becoming a clergyman, and was sent to King's College, Aberdeen, at the age of 17. He performed quite well and had been given the Huttonian prize, the highest award at the college, by the end of his fourth year. Sir George Simpson, his cousin, offered him a position in the Hudson's Bay Company in 1826, which he declined in order to complete his studies.
He graduated in 1828, at the age of 20, with a Master of Arts degree. He enrolled in a divinity class that winter with the goal of becoming a clergyman when the offer of a position in the Hudson's Bay Company was again extended, and this time he accepted. By his own confession he had "a little of the spirit of contradiction and an unwillingness to be led."[2] In 1829, Simpson arrived in Norway House to join the Hudson's Bay Company as George's secretary. He was quite ambitious and in a letter to his brother stated that his talents would lead him to speedy advancement. He was stationed at the Red River Colony in the 1830s, serving as second officer to chief factor Alexander Christie.
Arctic exploration
From 1836 to 1839, Simpson was involved in an expedition to chart the
The expedition was organized by the Hudson's Bay Company rather than the British
The party left on 1 June, and a month later reached the mouth of the Great Bear River. There they detached four men to go upriver to the Great Bear Lake and build winter quarters at Fort Confidence while the rest went down the Mackenzie to the Arctic, which they reached on 9 July. They then travelled west along the coast past Franklin's Return Reef until they were blocked by ice at Boat Extreme, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Point Barrow. Simpson and five men continued on foot and reached Point Barrow on 4 August. They returned to Fort Confidence on 25 September. At this point the north coast had been mapped from the Bering Strait to the mouth of the Coppermine.
Early in the year, Simpson went overland to find the upper Coppermine River. In the summer, they descended the Coppermine, which was full of meltwater, and reached the still-frozen Arctic. They waited two weeks for the ice to clear and began working slowly east. On 20 August they were blocked by ice a few miles from Franklin's Point Turnagain on the
It was a better year for ice. They followed the same route, passed Point Turnagain and Cape Alexander, sailed for the first time the
At this point the entire Arctic coast had been roughly mapped from the Bering Strait to beyond Chantrey Inlet. The remaining problems were the possibility of a water route from Chantrey Inlet to the Gulf of Boothia and the huge rectangular area north of the coast and south of the Parry Channel. The party returned to the Great Slave Lake in September of that year, and from there Thomas drew up a letter to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company describing the results of the expedition, which was published in many newspapers of the day. He also transmitted a plan for an expedition to complete further exploration of the coast between the Fury and Hecla Strait and the eastern limits of his previous explorations.
To attend to preparations for this new expedition, Simpson immediately left for the Red River Colony, making the entire 1,910-mile (3,070 km) journey in 61 days, arriving on 2 February 1840. The annual canoes from Canada to the settlement in June of that year brought no word of the reception of his exploits, or authorization to continue exploration, as word had not reached England in time to reply at that opportunity. Without authorization from the Directors, Thomas had no authority to arrange another expedition. Instead of waiting for an entire year for word, he decided to return to Britain in person.
Death and investigation
Thomas left the Red River Colony on 6 June 1840, intending to travel south to the
On 14 June 1840, Simpson and two of his companions were fatally shot at a wilderness camp in the
Witness depositions agreed that Simpson shot John Bird dead and mortally wounded Antoine Legros (dit Lecomte) Senior. Legros Junior and James Bruce then fled to the main party. When the posse reached the site they found Legros Sr. dead but Simpson still alive. Five minutes later Simpson was dead. All involved said that the wound was self-inflicted. The investigation that was conducted by U.S. territorial authorities was based on witness depositions submitted in various locations. The authorities ruled the deaths a case of murder–suicide.
Bruce's deposition claimed that Simpson told him he killed the two men because they intended to "murder him on that night for his papers."[7] Those papers were later sent to his cousin, Sir George Simpson. Three years later, when Sir George sent the papers to Thomas' younger brother Alexander, the diary and all correspondence between Sir George and Thomas were missing. What the missing papers may have contained remains unknown.
In the meantime, after Simpson's death, the company's directors in London had sent permission for him to continue with his explorations. He had also been awarded the
Continuing controversy
Simpson's brother Alexander published Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, written by Thomas, in 1843, and later himself wrote The Life and Times of Thomas Simpson, published in 1845, in which he examined the possibility that Simpson's traveling companions had planned to steal his notes and maps, which they could have sold to the Hudson's Bay Company’s American rivals, and that Simpson was a victim of homicide.
A number of scholars have studied the evidence in Simpson's death without reaching a conclusion.
Famed explorer and historian Vilhjalmur Stefansson included the Simpson case in his 1938 book Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic. He found the official story, based on witnesses' depositions, to be unconvincing though not impossible. Stefansson and other historians have noted that the official investigation was far from thorough, perhaps because of the remote location of the deaths.
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Simpson, Thomas". Dartmouth College Library. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Simpson 1845, p. 49.
- ^ Glyn Williams, "Arctic Labyrinth", 2008, chapter 14
- ^ Anthony Brandt,"The Man Who Ate His Boots", Chapter 15
- ^ "Peter Warren Dease", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online gives 100 miles (160 km) of coast but the Kent Peninsula is not quite that long and the coast is not much indented.
- ^ Derek Hayes' Historical Atlas of the Arctic, p.80, gives his turning point as the Beaufort River two days beyond Cape Alexander, but what is now called the Beaufort River is 10 miles (16 km) west of Cape Alexander.
- ^ Latta 2001, p. 294.
- ^ James Raffan, "Emperor of the North: Sir George Simpson.. etc", chapter 15
Bibliography
- Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, effected by the Officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, during the years 1836—39, Thomas Simpson, 1843
- Bumsted, J. M. (1999). "Thomas Simpson (1808–1840)". Dictionary of Manitoba Biography. Winnipeg: ISBN 9780887553189.
- Latta, J. B. (2001). The Franklin Conspiracy. Toronto: ISBN 9780888822345.
- OCLC 256710551.
- Simpson, A. (1845). OCLC 85801396.