View source for Prince of Wales Fort

{{short description|Historic fortress in Manitoba, Canada}}
{{other uses of|Prince of Wales}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2011}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name = Prince of Wales Fort
|native_name = 
|partof = 
|location = Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
|image = [[File:Churchill Fort Prince of Wales 1996-08-12.jpg|300px]]
|caption = Prince of Wales Fort
|map_type = Canada
|map_size = 300
|map_alt = 
|map_caption = 
|type = Fortress
|coordinates = {{coord|58|47|49.77|N|94|12|48.34|W|type:landmark_region:CA-MB|display=inline,title}}
|code = 
|built = 1717 (log fort) and 1731–1771
|builder = 
|materials = 
|height = 
|used = 1717–1782
|demolished = 
|condition = Partially restored
|ownership = 
|open_to_public = 
|controlledby = 
|garrison = 
|current_commander = 
|commanders = 
|occupants = 
|battles = [[Hudson Bay expedition]] (1782)
|embedded = {{Designation list |embed=yes |designation1=NHSC |designation1_offname=Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site of Canada |designation1_date=1920 }}
|events = 
|image2 = 
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}}
The '''Prince of Wales Fort''' is a historic [[bastion fort]] on [[Hudson Bay]] across the [[Churchill River (Hudson Bay)|Churchill River]] from [[Churchill, Manitoba|Churchill]], [[Manitoba]], Canada.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charlotte |last=Gray |title=The Museum Called Canada: 25 Rooms of Wonder |publisher=Random House |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-6793-1220-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/museumcalledcana00gray/page/221 221] |url=https://archive.org/details/museumcalledcana00gray|url-access=registration }}</ref> It is the oldest building in the country west of Ontario, and the northernmost fort in North America. It is a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site]] in the national park system.

==History==
[[File:Fort Prince of Wales plan BAnQ Vieux-Montréal 06M P750S1P7552 0002 crop.jpg|thumb|left|Plan of the fort]]
The European history of this area starts with [[Henry Hudson]] sailing into [[Hudson Bay]] in 1610. The area was recognized as important in the [[fur trade]] and of potential importance for other discoveries.<ref name=CanEnc>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Shirlee Anne |last=Smith |title=Prince of Wales Fort |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |date=June 8, 2015 |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/prince-of-wales-fort/}}</ref> The fort is built in a star shape.

===Original (wood) fort===
This fort began as a log fort built in 1717 by [[James Knight (explorer)|James Knight]] of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC) and was originally called the '''Churchill River Post'''. In 1719, the post was renamed Prince of Wales Fort. It was located on the west bank of the [[Churchill River (Hudson Bay)|Churchill River]] to protect and control the HBC's interests in the fur trade.<ref name=CanEnc/>

===Construction of the present stone fort===
The original wooden fort was replaced by a massive stone fort, probably to abide by the [[Royal charter|Royal Charter]] which required that [[Rupert's Land]] should be fortified.<ref name=Tyrrell>{{cite book |first=J.W. |last=Tyrrell |title=Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada: A Journey of 3200 Miles by Canoe and Snowshoe through the Barren Lands |date=1898 |location=Toronto |publisher=William Biggs |pages=215–216 |url=https://archive.org/stream/acrosssubarctics00tyrr#page/214/mode/2up}}</ref>

Construction of this fort was started in 1731 near what was then called [[Eskimo Point, Manitoba|Eskimo Point]]. It was in the form of a square, with sides {{convert|90|m|abbr=on}} long and walls {{convert|6|m|abbr=on}} tall and {{convert|9|m|abbr=on}} thick at the base.<ref name=Tyrrell/><!-- This has been corrected as of December 6, 2017 <ref>Note: The Canadian Encyclopedia states the Fort is {{convert|91|sqm|abbr=on}} but the writers must mean {{convert|91|x|91|m|abbr=on}}, which is {{convert|8218|sqm|abbr=on}}.</ref> -->

It had forty-two cannon mounted on the walls.<ref name=Tyrrell/> The cannon were massive, some weighing as much as {{cvt|2500|kg}}, built to fire nine, eighteen and 24-pound balls.<ref>Charles Tuttle, Our North Land, p.143</ref> There was also a battery across the river on [[Cape Merry]] meant to hold six more cannon.

===In battle===
In the 1780s, the French government launched a [[Hudson Bay expedition]] to damage HBC activities in that bay. Three French warships of the expedition, led by [[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse|Jean-François de La Pérouse]], captured the Prince of Wales Fort in 1782. The fort was manned by only 39 (non-military) men at the time, and the fort's governor, [[Samuel Hearne]], recognised the numerical and military imbalance and surrendered without a single shot being fired. The French partially destroyed the fort, but its mostly-intact ruins survive to this day.

The fort returned to the HBC in 1783. Thereafter, its importance waned with the decline in the fur trade although the post was refounded a little way up the river.

[[File:Native Map Seventeen Rivers beyond Churchill 1719 (1969).jpg|300px|thumb|Map of Prince of Wales Fort prepared in black ink by R.I. Ruggles, from original manuscript (map G. 1/19) in the Archives, Hudson's Bay Company, London.]]

==Structures==

The remains of these buildings still stand in the Fort, although none of them are intact, with roofs long since deteroriated.

* Rough Stone Dwelling House
* Governor's Quarters
* Storehouse
* Men's Quarters and Barracks
* Stonemason's Workshop
* Cooper and Carpenter Workshops
* Tailor's Room
* Blacksmith Shop

The courtyard is intact and all other exposed areas covered by grass.

===Cape Merry Battery===
Opposite the fort across the mouth of the Churchill River is Cape Merry Battery. The [[Artillery battery#Land usage|battery]] was named for former HBC Deputy Governor (1712-1718) Captain John Merry (1656-1729).<ref name="pc.gc.ca">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/mb/prince/decouvrir-discover/decouvrir-discover2|title = History of Cape Merry - Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site|date = 3 June 2009}}</ref> The fixed battery was built three times. The first was built sometime after 1718 and featured a wall protected by cannon(s) and [[Magazine (artillery)|powder magazine]].<ref name="pc.gc.ca"/> Only remaining parts are the ruins of the door of the magazine and parts of the wall. A second battery was built in 1747 further south and away from the river due to concerns that the first battery could be used to attack the fort.<ref name="pc.gc.ca"/> A third was rebuilt in 1959-1960 from second as a restoration process.<ref name="pc.gc.ca"/> The battery today has a single cannon.

==Restoration==
After the construction of the [[Hudson Bay Railway (1910)|Hudson Bay Railway]] to Churchill was completed in 1929, railway labour and railway construction equipment was used to restore the fort. Restoration work was also performed in the late 1950s.

Archaeological investigations at and around the fort began in 1958.

Since 2005, [[Parks Canada]] archaeologists have been working in and around the fort in conjunction with a large-scale wall stabilization work and a fort interpretation program.

==Legacy==
In 1920, the site was designated a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site]].<ref>{{CRHP|7760|Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site of Canada|2 October 2013}}</ref>

A series of journals written by explorer [[Samuel Hearne]] on a journey from Prince of Wales Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean was published by the [[Champlain Society]] in 1911.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Tyrrell |editor1-first=J.B. |title=Journals of Samuel Hearne and Philip Turnor between the Years 1774 and 1792 |date=1911 |publisher=The Publications of the Champlain Society |page=5 |doi=10.3138/9781442617896 |isbn=978-1-4426-1789-6 }}</ref> 

Charles Tuttle's 1885 book Our North Land describes the fort at that time.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1302/150.html?qid=peelbib%7Cfecit%7C%7Cscore | title=Peel 1302, p. 142 }}</ref>

On 28 June 1985, [[Canada Post]] issued 'Fort Prince of Wales, Man.', one of the 20 stamps in the "Forts Across Canada Series".<ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Prince of Wales, Man. |work=Canadian Postage Stamps |date=2017 |url=https://www.canadianpostagestamps.ca/stamps/16249/fort-prince-of-wales-man}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=%28fort.TITP.%29%20Or%20%28fort.TITI.%20And%20null.B742.%29&l=20&d=STMP&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2Farchivianet%2F02011702_e.html&r=0&f=S&Sect1=STMP |title=Canada Post stamp |access-date=2019-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203210045/http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=%28fort.TITP.%29%20Or%20%28fort.TITI.%20And%20null.B742.%29&l=20&d=STMP&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2Farchivianet%2F02011702_e.html&r=0&f=S&Sect1=STMP |archive-date=2016-02-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

The fort is the subject of one of the [[National Film Board of Canada|National Film Board]]'s [[Canada Vignettes]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Prince of Wales |work=Canada Vignettes |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |date=1978 |url=https://www.nfb.ca/film/canada_vignettes_fort_prince_of_wales/}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[John Bean (explorer)|John Bean]], explorer who voyaged to the fort
* [[Nathaniel Bishop]], master of the fort

==References==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/princeofwalesfort.shtml Manitoba Historical Society]
* [http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/mb/prince/index.aspx Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI9JhnMAL-U YouTube video of the NFB vignette.]

{{NHSC}}
{{Manitoba parks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Of Wales Fort}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Churchill, Manitoba]]
[[Category:Forts or trading posts on the National Historic Sites of Canada register]]
[[Category:Hudson's Bay Company forts]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Manitoba]]
[[Category:Forts in Manitoba]]
[[Category:Fur trade National Historic Sites of Canada]]
[[Category:1717 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1717 establishments in North America]]