AH-WR-1257

Kitty

Barque · United Kingdom · Lost 1859 · Hudson Bay & Hudson Strait

A chartered Hudson's Bay Company supply barque was crushed by Hudson Strait ice in 1859, and only one boatload of her company was ever seen again.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Kitty was a wooden barque chartered by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1859 to carry supplies to York Factory for the Red River Settlement. On September 5, 1859, she became trapped in fog and pack ice off Cape Resolution and was crushed as icebergs closed on her hull. Chief mate William Armstrong led a boat crew that reached the Moravian mission at Okak, Labrador, after weeks adrift; the captain's boat was never found. The loss deprived the Red River Settlement of a year's supplies and underscored the danger of the Hudson Strait passage.

Vessel

Built: 1850
Builder: Not established
Yard: Sunderland, England
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 384
Propulsion: Sail, barque rig
Owners: J.C. Brooks of Wallsend, chartered by Hudson's Bay Company

Loss

Date: September 5, 1859
Cause: Ice
Location: Hudson Strait, near latitude 61.48N, longitude 68.58W
Water: Hudson Strait
Voyage: Newcastle-on-Tyne → York Factory
Cargo: Supplies for the Red River Settlement
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Chief mate William Armstrong and four sailors reached Okak by longboat; the captain and about ten men who left in a second boat were never heard from again and are presumed lost.
Master: Alexander Ellis

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Crushed by ice and sunk
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 61.48° N 68.58° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Hudson Strait, near Cape Resolution
Region: Hudson Bay & Hudson Strait

Position as recorded in Hudson's Bay Company Archives correspondence; a rounded historical figure, not a modern survey.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)

The exact number of lives lost, and the fate of the captain's boat, are not established beyond contemporary reports that it was never seen again.

Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba
Build year, charter, loss date, position, and survivor details.
South Australian Advertiser (reprinted contemporary account)
Survivor William Armstrong's account of the loss and the fate of the two boats.