From Baffin Island to Melville Peninsula: British-Canadian Expeditions

 

THE BRITISH - CANADIAN EXPEDITION, 1936-1940

The British - Canadian Arctic Expedition was in fact a series of several separate Arctic expeditions organized by Cambridge University running from 1936 to 1940. Under the auspices of T.H. Manning, an experienced surveyor who had spent considerable time in the region, a small group of Arctic explorers spent four years mapping and studying a large swath of the eastern Canadian Arctic.

Expedition members traveled the Arctic by dog sled and boat, camping each night in igloos and surviving largely on wild game. The scientists relied heavily on the local Inuit populations, both for supplies and as guides. Adopting Inuit methods of travel and survival were essential and, from igloos to clothing, the group soon adapted to life in the Arctic.

The expedition had several goals. First among them was mapping and exploring a poorly charted region. From Southampton Island at the head of Hudson Bay to Bylot Island, expedition members charted, surveyed and improved existing maps across thousands of miles in some of the world's harshest conditions.

Many disciplines represented
The expeditions were made up of scientists with a wide variety of interests and specializations. Manning and P.M. Bennett were experienced surveyors, P.D. Baird was an engineer and geologist, R.J.O. Bray an ornithologist, R.G.M. Keeling a medical officer and G.W. Rowley an archaeologist. Over the course of four years, other members would also come and go. These men would work together or separately, studying everything from glaciers and rock sediment to the mating habits of various Arctic seabirds.

The expedition began in April 1936. Arriving in Churchill Manitoba in June, the party ordered the construction of a 30 foot whaling boat which they christened the Polecat. Sailing from Churchill that month, the group arrived at Southampton Island where they spent the season surveying the coastline and improving outdated maps. At the time the group consisted of Manning as surveyor, Baird serving as geologist and engineer, Bray the ornithologist, Keeling as doctor and G.W. Rowley as the archaeologist.

Ruins and birds examined
Bray spent a great deal of time examining and categorizing the various bird species while charting their migratory and mating habits. Rowley examined a series of archaeological ruins left by an ancient group of Inuit while Baird studied the island's geology, often making long trips ranging out hundreds of miles.

From Southampton Island, the group traveled by boat to Repulse Bay on the mainland and from there Bray and Rowley split off and continued north. These two traveled north by sledge along the eastern coast of the Melville Peninsula up to the island of Iglulik in the spring of 1936. In March they departed and crossed Foxe Basin to the Piling region on the western coast of Baffin Island. There they explored the relatively uncharted coast over the spring, eventually moving north across the island to Pond Inlet and overland to Arctic Bay, where the group spent the spring and summer charting and excavating. By early winter the men had boarded the Hudson's Bay ship Nascopie and, after a stop at Somerset Island, sailed to England.

Boat swept to sea
In August of 1938 Baird and Bray had returned to the Arctic after spending the winter in England. Their attempt to reach Iglulik by sea was unsuccessful and they were dropped off further south instead. Yet, the two men still hoped to reach Iglulik and thus proceeded north. However, on September 14th Bray was killed when his boat was swept out to sea. Baird's attempts to rescue him proved futile. By December, Baird had reached Repulse Bay and sent word of his friend's death.

He then returned to Iglulik, meeting Rowley who had been exploring Jens Munk Island and the northern Foxe Basin. The two continued to survey western Baffin, reaching the Piling region in February only to find word from Manning and his new wife that they had been there two weeks previously. Striking inland, Rowley headed north by sledge, arriving in Pond Inlet in March 1939 he received word that Baird had been unable to make the journey. The return to Iglulik was a lengthy overland trip around the north coast of Baffin, down Admiralty Inlet and finally across Fury and Hecla Strait. Baird did eventually make the journey north, and spent the spring and summer of 1939 traveling around and across Bylot Island - an expedition which he and Bray had planned to conduct together - correcting existing maps while studying glaciers and the island's geology and animal life.