Dean Snow's Reviews > Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge's Masterpiece

I first heard about Samuel Hearne in grade 6 social studies here in Canada So when I spotted this book in a local used book store I picked it up. The book is a biography of Hearne and tells the story of how he came to work for the Hudson Bay Company and to explore much of northern Canada. He was the first European to see the Arctic Ocean and walked there from what is now Churchill, Manitoba. The success of his trek depended entirely on native peoples who travelled with him and supported him throughout. Hearne wrote a detailed memoir of the trek which was widely published after his death. The book is popular history but thoroughly researched and well written. A few scenes are dramatized a bit but not unduly so, and the author argues that Hearne did the same thing with his memoir. The book moved along well and was a fun read for someone interested in Canadian pre- confederation history, the history of New World exploration, and relationships between indigenous people and Europeans in early colonization.