Hello- From autumn 1983 The Beaver magazine, an article titled : "The HBC and the Fur Trade:1670-1870': " The rations served out to the men consisted of provisions from England-salt pork & beef, flour, suet, peas, bacon, cheese, butter, and oatmeal- together with geese, ptarmigan, venison, rabbit and fish. To the modern eye the amounts seem gargantuan. On Christmas Day, 1705, each mess of four men at Albany was given twenty pounds of flour, 2 lb of bacon, 8 pints of oatmeal, 2 pints of rice, 2 lb of raisins, 1/2 lb of currants, 8 lb of mutton, 3 fresh and 2 salted geese, one 'piece' of salt bread, 12 partridges, 4 lb of biscuit bread, 2 lb of cheese, 1 1/2 lb of butter, 3 lb of suet, and 60 fish. This was, the factor concluded, rather more than usual, but it was matched by the list given by Andrew Graham a half-century later of daily rations. Graham claimed...' the Orkney servants yearly send home to their wives and children flour that they store up.' If true, this was a bizzare stae of affairs, since the flour had been expensively shipped from England to the Bay only the previous year. " " The patent unsuitability for hard work of many of those prepared to sign on for Hudson Bay was one reason for the Company's decision to hire, first, Lowland Scots, and then Orkneymen, in increasing numbers. If dour and clannish, the later were hardier and more reliable than the general run of urbanized labourers, and by the 1730s most of the Company's labourers and some of the craftsmen came from the Orkneys (sic)-a regular port of call for the Company ships on their voyage from the Thames'north about' to the Bay... ...the French Wars from 1793 onwards came as a heavy blow. European wars had always broght their own difficulties to the HBC...above all a shorage of manpower. The British navy's demand for seamen drew many Orkneymen onto the service, and this hit the Company hard, for they were now providing 3/4 of the workforce in the Bay-390 out of 498 officers and men in 1800. If David Thompson is to be believed, by about 1796 the Orkneymen reaching York in the annual ship were few in number and small in stature-so much so that the Indian wife of one of the Company servants challenged him with the observation: ' have you not always told me, that the people in your country are as numerous as the leaves on the trees, how can you speak such a falsehood, do we not see plainly that the very last of them is come, if there were any more would these dwarfs have come here.' cheers Thompson

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing this. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dutch Thompson" <dutchink@isn.net> To: <ORCADIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 8:46 AM Subject: [<orcadia>] HBC > Hello- > From autumn 1983 The Beaver magazine, an article titled : "The HBC and the Fur Trade:1670-1870': > >

Interesting About the Orcadian HBC Employee Stature At dinner a relative said our Orkneymen explorer relatives were all short and squat. I did a little research and discovered that as they did with our family, the HBC picked clean the Orkney landscape of young virile men, often numerous generations off the same farm. Then apparently rules were set in place to minimize the exodus. One of these rules was a height limitation. The result was many boys of twelve years or so were signed on. The reason therefore that many were short is simply that they were still children. The HBC have incredible records of Orkneymen. All their records were moved from London to Winnipeg and the Manitoba Museum does a good job of portraying the HBC. Interestingly enough, the natives respected the Orkney way, and the natives and Orcadians got on better than the Brits and the Scots. My relative, Andrew, was captured in Fort Prince of Wales in 1782 by the French. The Orkneymen on the post never fired a shot. They were treated with respect by their captors and set free. Among them was SAmuel Hearne.I suppose the alternative was to die for the British? Fascinating stuff. On Wednesday, January 28, 2004, at 05:46 AM, Dutch Thompson wrote: > Hello- > From autumn 1983 The Beaver magazine, an article titled : "The HBC > and the Fur Trade:1670-1870': > > " The rations served out to the men consisted of provisions from > England-salt pork & beef, flour, suet, peas, bacon, cheese, butter, > and oatmeal- together with geese, ptarmigan, venison, rabbit and fish. > To the modern eye the amounts seem gargantuan. On Christmas Day, 1705, > each mess of four men at Albany was given twenty pounds of flour, 2 lb > of bacon, 8 pints of oatmeal, 2 pints of rice, 2 lb of raisins, 1/2 lb > of currants, 8 lb of mutton, 3 fresh and 2 salted geese, one 'piece' > of salt bread, 12 partridges, 4 lb of biscuit bread, 2 lb of cheese, 1 > 1/2 lb of butter, 3 lb of suet, and 60 fish. This was, the factor > concluded, rather more than usual, but it was matched by the list > given by Andrew Graham a half-century later of daily rations. Graham > claimed...' the Orkney servants yearly send home to their wives and > children flour that they store up.' > If true, this was a bizzare stae of affairs, since the flour had been > expensively shipped from England to the Bay only the previous year. " > > " The patent unsuitability for hard work of many of those prepared > to sign on for Hudson Bay was one reason for the Company's decision to > hire, first, Lowland Scots, and then Orkneymen, in increasing numbers. > If dour and clannish, the later were hardier and more reliable than > the general run of urbanized labourers, and by the 1730s most of the > Company's labourers and some of the craftsmen came from the Orkneys > (sic)-a regular port of call for the Company ships on their voyage > from the Thames'north about' to the Bay... > ...the French Wars from 1793 onwards came as a heavy blow. > European wars had always broght their own difficulties to the > HBC...above all a shorage of manpower. The British navy's demand for > seamen drew many Orkneymen onto the service, and this hit the Company > hard, for they were now providing 3/4 of the workforce in the Bay-390 > out of 498 officers and men in 1800. If David Thompson is to be > believed, by about 1796 the Orkneymen reaching York in the annual ship > were few in number and small in stature-so much so that the Indian > wife of one of the Company servants challenged him with the > observation: ' have you not always told me, that the people in your > country are as numerous as the leaves on the trees, how can you speak > such a falsehood, do we not see plainly that the very last of them is > come, if there were any more would these dwarfs have come here.' > > cheers Thompson > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with the > word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com >