page_title: Hudson Bay expedition
section_title: York Factory
hierarchical_section_title: Hudson Bay expedition / Expedition / York Factory
context_page_description: The Hudson Bay expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse was a series of military raids on the lucrative fur trading posts and fortifications of the Hudson's Bay Company on the shores of Hudson Bay by a squadron of the French Royal Navy. Setting sail from Cap-Français in 1782, the expedition was part of a global naval war between France and Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War.
  Operating under secret orders from the Marquis de Castries, France's Navy minister, La Pérouse sailed from Cap-Français in May 1782, and arrived at the Prince of Wales Fort in early August. That fort and York Factory trading post both surrendered without a fight, although some of the furs stored at York were spirited away by a company ship that evaded the French fleet.
  Many of the British prisoners were put on a sloop and allowed to sail back to England. Men on La Pérouse's fleet, which had sailed with minimal winter provisioning to maintain secrecy, suffered hardships including scurvy and other diseases. Hudson's Bay Company finances suffered because of the raid, which also caused the death of up to half the native population that did business with the company.
context_section_description: La Pérouse then collected most of the company's small boats, and sailed for York Factory, a company outpost on a peninsula between the Hayes and Nelson Rivers, on 11 August.  According to Pérouse's report, he arrived in the area, about 5 leagues (15 miles; 24 km) from York, on 20 August.  The fort's defenses faced the Hayes River, where the company ship King George was anchored, and the fast-flowing Hayes River would have made an approach there impractical in the face of that opposition.
  La Pérouse sailed into the mouth of the Nelson River and moved the troops to the smaller company ships on 21 August  to prepare an amphibious landing, with the plan of approaching the fort from the rear, a distance of about 16 miles (26 km).  He then proceeded with his engineer to take soundings in the Nelson River and discovered that due to its shallowness even the smaller boats would have difficulty approaching firm land.  His small boat then became mired in mud by the receding tide, and was not freed until 3 am the next morning.  Captain Langle then proposed to Major Rostaing, the commander of the troops, that they cross the muddy shallows on foot.  This was agreed, and the troops then set out across the shallows.  Unknown to them, conditions improved only marginally once land was reached, and they spent the next two days wading through bogs and muck to reach the fort.  Meanwhile, La Pérouse returned to the fleet because bad weather was threatening its safety.  Both frigates lost their anchors when sharp rocks underwater cut through their cables in the turbulent conditions.
  York Factory was occupied by 60 white men and 12 Indians.  When the French ships were spotted, Governor Humphrey Marten loaded trade goods onto the King George so they would not fall into French hands.  When the French arrived on 24 August, Marten surrendered the fort.  Although La Pérouse sent a frigate after the King George when she sailed off during the night after the fleet's arrival, her captain, Jonathan Fowler, successfully eluded the pursuit due to his superior knowledge of the shallow waters of the bay. Major Rostaing took the British of the garrison prisoner, destroyed what goods he could not take, and burned the wooden fort to the ground.  He was, however, careful to preserve a cache of supplies for use by Indians who came to fort to trade.  These acts of kindness and others by La Pérouse in the treatment of his captives brought him recognition from Hearne, Louis XVI, and the British government.
  La Pérouse did not learn of the capitulation until 26 August, and continuing bad weather and difficulties with the frigates meant that he did not effect a junction with Rostaing until 31 August.  The terms of capitulation included the surrender of Fort Severn, another small outpost.  He chose not to go to Fort Severn on account of the lateness of the season and the poor condition of his ships and men, who were suffering from scurvy and other maladies.  During the process of loading goods and supplies onto the fleet, five small boats overturned and 15 men drowned.
caption: Samuel Hearne, governor at Fort Prince of Wales
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