The life and death of Charles, an Inuk slave

In the mid-1700s, the Hudson’s Bay Co. conducted a vigorous fur trade into the interior of Canada.

These were wild times, and the Cree and Inuit were frequently in a state of war, their traditional enmity for each other augmented by the desire to dominate in trade with the white men of the HBC.

The James Bay Cree frequently conducted raids against the Inuit of the East Main, as the east coast of James Bay was called. On one of these raids, in 1736, a group of about 50 Indians killed five Inuit men and 15 women, and took 10 children captive.

We know the fate of only one of those unfortunate children.

A ‘Young Eskemoe Boy’ was taken to Albany, on the west side of James Bay, and kept in servitude there for a time. His parents may have been among those killed in the raid. Then the HBC bought him from his Indian captors, in return for one pound of “Brazil tobacco,” one gallon of brandy, and one and one-half yards of blue broadcloth.

Sent from Albany to Moose Fort (the present-day Moose Factory), the young man, now in effect a slave of the HBC, was given the name “Charles” and put in the care of Capt. Christopher Middleton.

Middleton had joined the HBC as a young man in 1721, as second mate of the vessel Hannah, and sailed with her to York Factory on the west coast of Hudson Bay.

Eventually, he was made captain of the Hannah. During his career, he made a total of 16 voyages to Hudson Bay and visited all the company’s main posts.

A keen navigator, he made observations on magnetism and experimented with methods to calculate longitude. The same year that Charles was placed in his care, Middleton earned a distinction, rare among seamen, by being elected a fellow of the Royal Society for his contributions to navigation.

In 1738, Middleton took Charles with him to England. A letter from Moose Fort, addressed to the London Committee of the HBC, reported: “Upon the request of Captain Middleton I have sent your slave home, the Escomay boy, he [Middleton] saying how serviceable he will be in informing them relating to the trade in the Straits relating to the whalebone.”

This was a reference to trade in Hudson Strait, farther to the north, where Inuit traded annually with the company’s ships. The trade was for more than just whalebone (baleen), though: the Inuit also provided skins, narwhal tusks, seal oil and whale oil. Apparently, it was hoped Charles would be a help in expanding this trade.

For the next three years, Middleton was responsible for the well-being of Charles. The HBC periodically reimbursed him for the boy’s care.

These were tough years for Capt. Middleton. He had been befriended by Arthur Dobbs, a member of the Irish House of Commons, who had a long-standing interest in finding the Northwest Passage. But there were suspicions that Dobbs was not supportive of the HBC’s trade monopoly and wanted to support competitive interests. Their friendship strained relations between Middleton and the company’s London Committee.

Nonetheless, Middleton continued to sail annually to Hudson Bay. Records are scant, but Charles probably travelled as interpreter with Middleton in 1739 aboard the ship Hudson’s Bay, which travelled to Churchill in August and remained there two weeks.

The following year, he probably travelled again with Middleton on the same ship, visiting Moose Factory and Albany, the scene of his former captivity. On these voyages, Charles would have seen more of Hudson Bay than he had ever seen before.

On March 5, 1741, Middleton received a commission in the Royal Navy and resigned from the HBC. In June, he left England in command of the first British naval expedition to search for a Northwest Passage.

With Middleton no longer an HBC employee, someone else had to take responsibility for the company’s slave.

On March 26, Charles was brought to a company sub-committee and given to the secretary to care for. That spring, he left again for Hudson Bay, this time aboard a ship commanded by George Spurrell. The committee’s instructions to Spurrell were to “cause the Indian [Inuit] Ladd to tell them [the Inuit] they must Endeavour to get what Whalebone, Oil and Furs they can against the next year.”

Spurrell’s ship, the Seahorse, visited Churchill in July and York Factory in August. It returned to London on Oct. 3.

The story of Charles ends abruptly. Later that month the records of the HBC note simply that on Oct. 21, Capt. Spurrell was reimbursed ₤3 15s. 8d. for “physick and funeral charges for Charles the [Company’s] Esquemay boy.”

Where and how Charles died is unknown, although the reference to funeral charges would indicate that he died back in England, rather than on the voyage.

Charles’s brief and incomplete story has been pieced together from the scattered references found within the records of a secretive trading company intent on preserving and extending a monopoly.

Consider what we don’t know about him: We don’t know his real name or place of birth, anything about his parents, whether or not he had siblings, his date or place of death, nor his final resting place. Indeed, it is a small miracle that we know anything about him at all.

Taissumani is an occasional column that recalls events of historical interest. Kenn Harper is a historian and writer who lived in the Arctic for over 50 years. He is the author of Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition, and Thou Shalt Do No Murder, among other books. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.