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Richard Cyriax's note concerning Thomas Simpson's claim of having discovered the Northwest Passage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

William Barr
William Barr
Affiliation:
Arctic Institute of North America, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
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Abstract

In 1957 the well-known Arctic historian Richard Cyriax sent a copy of some of his notes to the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. These notes, which are reproduced here in full, concerned the claim by Thomas Simpson to have discovered the Northwest Passage on an expedition from 1837 to 1839. The reasons for Simpson's belief that he had achieved this long-sought-after accomplishment are investigated, and the conclusion is arrived at that, despite his honest belief to have done so, Simpson did not, in fact, complete the Northwest Passage, as that term is normally understood.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 36 , Issue 197 , April 2000 , pp. 113 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

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