Cape Merry and Prince Of Wales'' Fort
A couple of minutes' walk from the town centre, Churchill's grain elevators and silos stand at the base of a narrow peninsula that sticks out into the mouth of the Churchill River. At the tip, approached along a gravel track, Cape Merry National Historic Site (guided tours June Tues, Thurs & Sat 10am-2pm; July & Aug Sat 10am-2pm; free) has the remains of an eighteenth-century gun emplacement and a cairn commemorating the Danish explorer Jens Munck, who led an expedition that was forced to winter here in 1619; most of the crew died from cold and hunger. On the other side of the estuary, Prince of Wales' Fort National Historic Site (free tours daily July & Aug, times dependent on tides and weather conditions - ask at the visitors centre or phone the Canadian Parks Service; tel 675-8863) is a partly restored eighteenth-century stone fortress that was built to protect the trading interests of the Hudson's Bay Company from the French. Finished in 1771, this massive structure took forty years to complete, but even then it proved far from impregnable. When a squadron of the French fleet appeared in the bay in 1782 the fort's governor, Samuel Hearne, was forced to surrender without firing a shot because he didn't have enough men to form a garrison. The French spiked the cannon and undermined the walls, and after this fiasco the Company never bothered to repair the damage. The Fort is only accessible as part of a guided tour of the Churchill River organized by Sea North Tours .
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