Abstract
It is generally understood that the Canadian claim to title over Hudson Bay includes also Hudson Strait, the bay’s connecting link with the Atlantic Ocean. Hudson Bay, in northeastern Canada, has a length of about 900 miles between extremes of latitude,2 and its greatest width is 520 miles. Nearly one quarter of the total area of Hudson Bay is accounted for by James Bay which leads southward from the perimeter of Hudson Bay for a distance of 200 miles. James. Bay has a width of 80 to 100 miles throughout most of its course.
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References
Sources consulted for the geographical description of Hudson Bay are: U.S. Navy Hydrographic Offive, Sailing Directions Northern Canada (H. O. Publication No. 77), pp. 6a-8, Ch. 4; U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office Chart No. 5797 (reproduced from a Canadian Chart of 1957); Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Reference Encyclopaedia, vol. 13, pp. 4704–5; V. Kenneth Johnson, “Canada’s Title to Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait,” 15 British Yearbook of International Law (1934), p. 1; F. Murray Greenwood and E. N. Smith, “Diesels To Desolation,” 20 Trains (Dec. 1959); various political and geophysical maps; Henry B. Collins, jr., “Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay,” CX National Geographic Magazine (Nov. 1956), pp. 669–687; Henry B. Collins, Jr., “Exploring Frozen Fragments of American History,” Ibid., May 1939; U.S. Navy Publication, Canadian North, Prepared April 1956 by Technical Assistant to The Chief of Naval Operations for Polar Projects (OP-O3A3), p. 235ff.
The Belcher Islands in Southeastern Hudson Bay are reported to contain a solid iron ore of 35 to 40 per cent iron. On the Ungava Mainland to the east, along the Great Whale River, is another such deposit. It is planned to commence active extraction of this ore in 1965. Discussion with Mr. O. H. Daly, General Freight Agent, Canadian National Railways, Boston, Mass.
Letter of 17 March 1959, from Canadian Consulate General, Boston in response to this writer’s inquiry, and quoting information received from the Canadian Department of Transport. Mr. F. H. Kitts, in his book, The Hudson Bay Region, published in 1929 for the Canadian Department of the Interior, wrote (pp. 24–6) that there are cod in Ungava Bay, and some rock cod on the eastern shores of Hudson and James Bays. There are salmon in Hudson Bay. The commercially valuable species of whale are very rare and there are limited numbers of seal and walrus.
Great Britain, Calender of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1685–1688, p. 309.
Great Britain, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1699, p. 89.
James A. Williamson, The Voyages of the Cabots and the English Discover of North America under Henry VII and Henry VIII (1929), p. 28.
Williamson, Voyages of the Cabots, p. 23.
Jackman Sound is against Baffin Island, on the north side of Hudson Strait, about no miles from the entrance.
Richard Hakluyt, “The Second Voyage of Master Martin Frobisher… 1577…,” The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation, vol. VII, p. 217.
Sir John Barrow, A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions (1818), pp. 187–195.
Thomas Rundall, Ed., Narratives of Voyages towards the North-West, in Search of a Passage to Cathay and India, 1496–1631, Series I, vol. V, (1849), p. 178.
Rundall, Ed., Narratives, p. 153; also, 89 Publications of the Hakluyt Society, Ser. I, p. 348.
Thomas James, The Dangerous Voyage of Captain Thomas James, in His intended Discovery of a North-West Passage into the South Sea. (1740, reprint of 1635 edition), p. 95.
Gabriel Marcel, “La Cartographie de la Nouvelle France, supplément à l’ouvrage de M. Henry Harrisse sur le même sujet,” Revue de Géographie (Mar.-April 1885) pp. 186–194. 282–289, 359–365 – 442–447.
In 1670, France claimed,.through New France, title to the whole. Marcel, op. cit.
Barrow, Voyages, pp. 254–61.
The major portion of this Charter is reproduced in the opinion of John Rose, Q. C, of 1 December 1848, on “The Nature of the Rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company over its Territories,” reprinted in William R. Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States-Canadian Relations (1945), vol. IV, 1849–1860, at pages 402–8. A portion of this charter is reproduced at Annex A.
Mr. V. Kenneth Johnston in his article “Canada’s Title to Hudson Bay” 15 BYIL (1934), at p. 5, cites as authority for this statement Report from the Select Committee on the Hudson’s Bay Company, Minutes of Evidence, Examination of Sir G. Simpson, 26 February 1857, Question nos. 737–742, p. 46. Mr. Johnston writes that so far as can be discovered, the above citation contains the only official description of Rupert’s Land that has ever been given.
Moore’s Digest (1906), vol. I, p. 16.
Sir William Schucking, The Hudson’s Bay Company (1911),
J. Mackay, The Honourable Company (1938).
J. Almon, Collection of Treaties, &c. between Great Britain and other Powers (1772), vol. I, p. 136.
Statutes of Canada, 1869, p. iii; 1872, p. lxiii, lxxvii-lxxxiii.
Statutes of Canada, 1898, p. xxxvi; XXXI Canada Gazette (14 May 1898), pp. 2613–14.
Revised Statutes of Canada 1906, cap 45, sec. 9(12) and included in Revised Statutes of Canada 1927, cap. 73, sec. 9(10).
U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office Publication, H.O. 77, pp. 8, 227–8.
Ibid.; Canadian Consul General, Boston, Letter of 17 March 1959 to author.
Ibid.
Letter from Deputy Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources, Ottawa, dated 5 February 1959.
Ibid.
Canada Year Book, 1957–58, p. 13.
Ibid., p. 72.
William R. Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States-Canadian Relations 1945, vol. iv, 1849–1860, pp. 402–408.
Philip C. Jessup, The Law of Territorial Waters and Maritime Jurisdiction (1927), p. 4.
American Journal of International Law (1912), pp. 409–459. The title of the article in French is “La Baie d’Hudson, est-elle une mer libre ou une mer fermée,” and the citation thereof is XIII Revue de Droit International et de Législation Comparée (2ième Série), pp. 539–586.
15 British Yearbook of International Law (1934). pp, 1–20.
The British Yearbook of International Law, 1922–23, pp. 42–54.
Pitt Cobbett, Cases and Opinions on International Law, Part I, 3rd Ed. (1909), pp. 145–6.
P. T. McGrath, “The Hudson Bay Dispute,” The Fortnightly Review, 1 Jan. 1908, pp. 125–136.
John Bassett Moore, Digest of International Law (1906), vol. I, p. 781.
VII U.S. State Papers (1818–19), p. 167.
Johnston, op. cit.
McGrath, op. cit.
J. T. Jenkins, A History of the Whale Fisheries (1921), p. 350.
This collection has a most impressive number of volumes on whaling. One of these, Walter S. Tower, A History of the American Whale Industry (1906), is a work of obvious academic merit. Whaling in Hudson’s Bay is mentioned in the Tower book as being a rather unprofitable venture.
McGrath, op. cit.
Section A, above.
McGrath, op. cit.
Lionel M. Gelber, The Rise of Anglo-American Friendship (1938), pp. 30–32; A. L. P. Dennis, Adventures in American Diplomacy, 1896-i9o6 (1928), p. 98.
An excellent summary of the background is contained in I Moore’s Digest (1906), pp. 462–475; For the record of the tribunal’s proceedings see Alaska Boundary Tribunal, Proceedings, Senate Document No. 162, 58th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1904.
Gelber, op. cit., pp. 140–165.
McGrath, op. cit.; Johnston, op. cit.
It was reported in Cruise of the Arctic, 1908–9, that licenses for fishing were issued, and whalers and others were informed that regulations in regard to fishing and Canadian customs duties upon imported goods to be disposed of in trading with the natives were to be collected. Johnston, op. cit. These actions were in implementation of the 1904–06 legislation which applied to Canadians and foreigners alike. This writer has been unable to uncover evidence as to the amount of fishing actually done in Hudosn Bay during the period, where it was done (with respect to the 3-mile limit), or what nationalities were doing the fishing.
The first surveyors reported unfavorably on the project.
Hackworth’s Digest (1940), vol. I, pp. 700–1.
Elihu Root, Argument on Behalf of the United States, North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration, Bacon-Scott Ed. (1917), p. 46.
III Malloy’s Treaties 2632, 2636.
Neither at the 1930 Conference nor at the 1958 Conference, nor in the preparatory phases for either, does the matter seem to arise. Mr. George Drew, Chairman of the Canadian Delegation at the 1958 Conference, addressed the First Committee in a lengthy and comprehensive manner concerning the Canadian view on territorial water. A/Conf. 13/39, pp. 51–3. Hudson Bay was not mentioned. For a verbatim transcript of the main portion of this address see Canadian Weekly Bulletin No. 13 (26 Mar. 1958), Department of External Affairs, Information Division, Ottawa.
Canada Yeat Book, 1957–58. p. 868.
To undertake an analysis of the East-West race in missile development is quite beyond the scope of this thesis. The conclusions reached here are based primarily upon U.S. Senate Document No. 8, 86th Congress, 1st Session, Developments in Military Technology and their Impact on United States Strategy and Foreign Policy, dated 6 December 1959, and prepared by the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research, The Johns Hopkins University.
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© 1963 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Strohl, M.P. (1963). Hudson Bay, a Case Study. In: The International Law of Bays. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0967-1_6
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