Asleep by the frozen sea

Asleep by the frozen sea is a phrase coined by Joseph Robson to describe the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from its foundation in 1670 until the establishment of its first inland post in 1774. Unlike the French who sent Coureurs des bois inland to trade, the HBC built posts on Hudson Bay and waited for the Indians to bring furs to them. The decision to abandon this policy and move inland gradually turned the HBC into an informal government for western Canada and led ultimately to the confederation of western and eastern Canada.

The Robson quote seems to be "The Company have for eighty years slept at the edge of a frozen sea.... They have shewn no curiosity to penetrate farther themselves, and have exerted all their art and power to crush that spirit in others." In 1752 Joseph Robson: published "An Account of Six Years Residence in Hudson's-Bay". He worked as a stonemason on Prince of Wales Fort from 1733 to 1735 and returned to the Bay in 1744 as surveyor and Superintendent of Buildings. In 1747 he returned to England and became involved with Arthur Dobbs and his attack on the HBC.

The HBC did send some explorers inland. In 1690-92 Henry Kelsey reached the Saskatchewan River, but this was not followed up. In 1715 James Knight hearing reports of copper to the northwest sent William Stuart inland to somewhere southeast of the Great Slave Lake. In 1717 and 1721 Richard Norton went inland from Churchill. In 1754-55 Anthony Henday took Kelsey's route, passed some French forts and reached Alberta. In 1769 and 1770 Samuel Hearne travelled to the barren grounds northwest of Churchill. In 1771 he reached the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine River.

The HBC established six posts on Hudson Bay: on James Bay: Rupert House (1668,southeast), Moose Factory (1673,south) and Fort Albany, Ontario (1679,west); and on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper: Fort Severn (1689), York Factory (1684) and Fort Churchill (1717). The French made a number of attempts to capture them (see Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay). The three James Bay posts competed directly with the French to the south, while the two westernmost posts had a near monopoly. After 1731 the French pushed west from Lake Superior threatening the western monopoly and diverting part of the western trade to Montreal.

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