Peter Dease and Thomas Simpson (1808-40), with a party of twelve men, were sent by the HBC to explore the northern coast of North America between the Mackenzie River and Point Barrow in present-day Alaska and from the Coppermine River eastward to the Back River. This enormous survey was carried out with great difficulty. Simpson's detailed account discusses geography, travel conditions, Indigenous peoples encountered (particularly the Chipewyan and Hare), the Inuit, hunting and fishing, and food rations. The Royal Geographical Society awarded Simpson their Founder's Medal but the HBC refused his request to lead an expedition farther east along the coast. Simpson, ambitious and furious, set out for London, hoping to secure approval there but, before he reached the Atlantic, he was shot in the head. The men who had accompanied him claimed he went mad and killed two of them before committing suicide. This account of Thomas's explorations was edited by his brother Alexander (see introductory Memoir) and published in 1843 in an attempt to restore his reputation. AB 16124
