Ted's Reviews > Ancient Mariner

This book has a lot to offer readers who enjoy non fiction history, biography, exploration and adventure/survival. It is a well researched biography of Samuel Hearne, based largely on Hearne's journals, notebooks, drawings, maps and his published memoir. To say that Hearne lived a full and adventurous life would be an understatement. He was a sailor, naturalist, artist, explorer, map maker, fur trader, company manager, and a published writer. He also spoke several North American indigenous languages.

At the heart of this book is a 13 month, overland exploratory expedition that Hearne undertook for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1769-70 with a small group of Chipewyan-Dene natives. They travelled more than 3500 miles from Prince of Wales Fort on the west coast of Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Coppermine River on the Arctic Ocean and then returned by a different route to Hudson Bay. The journey was dangerous, an extreme test of endurance and a year long immersion in the Dene culture for Hearne, who, by way of this experience, became the first European to reach the Arctic shores of North America.

I found this a well written and most interesting read. Hearne's life, with all of its trials, tribulations, successes and sorrows, makes a very compelling story. The book concludes with a brief epilogue by the author that includes details of a visit to Prince of Wales Fort in Manitoba and his on-site investigations of Hearne's later years in London and Beaminster, England.