Battle of Hudson's Bay

Battle of Hudson's Bay
	Part of King William's War
	; The Sinking of the Pélican by Bacqueville de la Potherie
Date	5 September 1697
Location	off York Factory, Hudson Bay, Rupert's Land (now Manitoba, Canada); 44°33′48″N 75°24′50″W / 44.5633°N 75.414°WCoordinates: 44°33′48″N 75°24′50″W / 44.5633°N 75.414°W
Result	French victory
Belligerents
France	England
Commanders and leaders
Sieur d'Iberville	John Fletcher
Strength
1 ship	1 ship; 2 frigates
Casualties and losses
1 ship scuttled	1 ship destroyed; 1 frigate captured

The Battle of Hudson's Bay took place on 5 September 1697, during the Nine Years' War and King William's War. During the battle, French Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville led a naval attack on Captain John Fletcher and his English forces off the shores of York Factory, Hudson Bay, Rupert's Land (now Manitoba, Canada). The French wanted to try and destroy the York Factory. The French won the battle when the English surrendered the York Factory fort on 13 September 1697.^[1] It was the largest naval conflict to ever have been fought off of northeastern Canada.^[2]

During the battle, d'Iberville strategically used tactics to make it seem that he had an invading army on his side. In reality, much of his crew were either sick or wounded. The trick worked and they continued to attack the British until they surrendered the fort. By using smoke screens and spreading his sharpshooters out wide, d'Iberville created the illusion of an invading army. In fact, his men were mostly sick and wounded. The bombardment continued for several days, until the company surrendered.^[3]

Diberville's Le Pélican ship was sunk by artillery during the battle and Fletcher's Hampshire exploded and sank.^[4] Neither d'Iberville nor Fletcher were killed during the battle.

In 2013, an expedition team started a search between the Hayes River and Hudson Bay to try and find the sunken Pélican and the Hampshire ships.^[5]