Here are some images of the Hudson Bay area.  The polar bear in the picture was on the island we anchored and spent the night at.  He was a very gentlemanly bear and, while very curious to see who his new neighbors were, he didn’t seem too upset.  Both the team and Bear got a little surprise though when he came swimming around the island to the boat.  We didn’t seem him until he stood up in the swallow waters (tide was almost out) and he didn’t see us sitting there until we yelled “Bear” (and he was 60 feet away).

There are a lot of wrecks up there and we visited as many as we could.  The wreck in the image was the dredge the Canadian government used at the Port Nelson port until a storm broke the boat’s back.  The terminal sits in the open at the bottom of Hudson Bay.  When we were there we rode the 14′ tide up and down and got to walk around the bottom of the bay for several hours.  Our bear buddy was there but he decided to go find his seal and left us alone.

There were a lot of bears.  One time we counted 13 bears together at once.  They are very well fed on seals.

York Factory has been the gateway to North America from the North for over 400 years.  French and English alike fought to own this area.  The first European to see Buffalo and the Prairies walked from York Factory and back to write about it.  Did the European explorers follow old Norse routes?  That’s what we want to find out.

This photo is the main building of York Factory.  It used to be the center of the fort but river erosion has eaten the bank.  The original York Fort is actually the middle of the Hayes River.  While the bank is eroding things are now falling onto the shore.  We saw a 5 foot tall anchore popping out of the soil and about 800 feet behind where we were taking the picture of the building is a cemetery that is slowly falling into the river.  We found some show leather and (I’m  not a medical person) some bones that looked like spinal bits.  There is a lot of scrap on the beach and the Parks Canada people have been collecting cannons, cannonballs and all sorts of artifacts off the beach for decades.  There is a hunting lodge on the shore of Hudson Bay that even found a full-sized cannon barrel.  Probably from D’Iberville.

We also just missed the Prime Minister of Canada by two days.

Hello Expeditioners,

We just completed a two week journey from Winnipeg to Gillam, Manitoba by car and then switching to a sailboat sized like a Norse “after boat”. We encountered polar bears (and even ended up sleeping on an island with one), belugas, ravens and eagles. We also stopped on the island where Thomas Button wintered in 1612, searched the landscape for signs of “8 mile trail” and studied the effects on time on the shoreline.

Isostatic rebound, erosion and forest fires have dramatically changed the landscape over the last 400 years. Luckily the north end of Hudson Bay is not rebounding as much as the south end but we will definitely be looking for Norse sites above and back from the current shoreline. We also made a short journey to York Factory where we missed the Prime Minister of Canada by 2 days.

We plan to return in 2013.

I spoke with CaptainJ.D. Clifford Stevens Jr. today.

He is the last of the well known Captains of the multi-generation Stevens family on Lake Winnipeg.

He gave me a book of stories about the Captains on Lake Wpg. considered by many to be one of the most dangerous lakes to sail on because the combination of shallowness,current and wind makes short haystack shaped waves that can come up in an hour.

He and his first mate shared coffee and experiences with us. Good to know someone with so much first hand knowledge.

Thanks again!!!

This is a test of my new blogability !!

I talked to Unnur Thorsteinsdottir at DeCODE this week. She is the Vice President of Research and a very nice person!! We think there is a great scientific opportunity to do a population genomic study as part of the Fara Heim expedition.

If the Norse in the Arctic did settle for up to 400 years like they are suspected to have done there should be a genetic track. As part of talking to the ancestors of the non-Norse settlers about their history and stories of any interactions with Europeans we think this is a great chance to look for genetic traces.

Science has advanced so much over even the last 20 years that genetic sampling is as easy a mouth swab. It’s kind of funny that Icelanders of the 21st century may have developed the science to be able to prove the presence of Icelanders from 1,000 years ago.

Unnur is talking to her colleagues at deCODE about selecting someone to come onboard Fara Heim as our genetic advisor and detective.

Thanks Unnur,

David

Expedition Update:

1. We are going to start reaching out to the Northern communities to ask for stories, clues and actual sites and artifacts that relate to the presence of the Norse.

2. We are working on the magnetic anomaly detection and ground penetrating radar systems to do rapid searching.

3. We are evaluating how we can do a digital image search of the coast areas we think could have been used as Norse settlements or encampments. With the satellite imagery and computing power available now we are going to test a couple of sites to look for things that look man-made (like rectangular rock structures). We’re not sure what we will find but nobody has ever focused current technology to this search.

We have been given a rivet from the Roskilde museum. Anne Sorensen, who has published several books on Viking ships, graciously sent us a rivet. We will use this rivet to help develop our search protocols. Thanks very much Anne and the Roskilde museum.

http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/

A recent quote by Dr. Leigh Syms:

Fara Heim Expedition–An Exciting Search for Viking Occupations in Hudson Bay

One of the great mysteries of Viking settlements in North America is the disappearance of the last Vikings. Did they travel inland into the Bay? Did they eventually merge with Inuit camps and intermarry with the Inuit women? Early expeditions such as Knut Rasmussen in the 1920s reported “blond Eskimos”. This appears to be somewhat of a misnomer since they are described as having fair (as in brown) hair, blue or grey eyes, European facial features, and more beard than other Inuit pictures show, but they present an intriguing enigma. Viking artifacts have been found in Inuit camps on the east side of the Bay, indicating contact.
But did the Vikings set up their camps in the Bay, on their own or with Inuit partners? No one has searched for the evidence. One is reminded of the Viking site at L’Anse aux Meadows which remained a fabled site reported in Icelandic sagas until Helge Ingstad set out to find it and lucked in to find the people who could show him a strange site. It is entirely possible that Viking sites will be found in the Bay but it will require extensive searching and discussions with local Inuit elders about any such traditions. Fortunately the Fara Heim Expedition is well on its way in this regard.

E. Leigh Syms, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba
As the former Curator of Archaeology at The Manitoba Museum, he developed a travelling exhibit on the Vikings which is still circulating.