New book offers glimpse at life in
nineteenth century 'Nor Wast'
Story dated: June 4, 2003

A new book giving a personal glimpse into the lives of the men working for the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada is launched in Stromness next week.

Entitled Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast of America, the book features undelivered personal letters from HBC employees - many of which remained sealed for 150 years.

In the early nineteenth century, when the Hudson's Bay Company sent men to its furthest posts along the coast of North America's Pacific northwest, letters addressed to those men followed them in the company's supply ships.

Some of these letters missed their intended recipients, who had deserted their ships, or died, or returned to Britain.

The company kept the correspondance and amassed a file of 'undelivered letters', many of which remained sealed for 150 years. The book features a selection of these personal letters, giving an insight into the life of a Hudson's Bay Company employee.

The book, Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast of America, 1830 - 57, (Edited by Judith Hudson Beattie and Helen M. Buss) costs £17.95 and will be launched on Wednesday, July 16, at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, a building with connections to the Hudson's Bay Company operations in Stromness.