Polar Bear Blog - Munck Site - July 26, 2006

The old bones are sore today. Yesterday was another full day of hiking across river. Another perfect day across river, eight hours of sun and occasional cloud and just enough wind to keep the blackflies and mosquitoes at bay.

Crossing the river to Cockles Point (the old site of White Whale Lodge - more about that later...), we started our journey south to the old town site and the original wintering site of Jens Munck.

Munck was the first European to overwinter in the Churchill area and one of the first Europeans to enter Hudson Bay. In 1619, the 64 men of the Munck expedition arrived in the Churchill River and set up camp in the first suitable cove, preparing for winter.

Things started off pretty well. It was late August and they found berries and game. They caught and rendered a beluga whale which inevitably attracted a polar bear, which they shot, anticipating a hearty meal for the entire crew.

Of course, that is where things sort of went astray. Only Munck as Captain cooked his polar bear meat. The rest of the crew, both as tradition and as a means of saving valuable fuel, only marinated the meat in vinegar. And here is where the problem lay.

Polar bear meat is today well known for containing high levels of trichinosis, a parasite that eats away at you and your immune system, most commonly found in raw pork.

Well, to make a long story short, the following summer Munck and the two remaining men, dragged themselves up the rocky shoreline to gather berries and eventually gain enough strength to sail one of their ships, the Lamprey, back across the Atlantic - an incredible journey that is virtually unnoticed in the annals of arctic history.

The problem was is that Munck was kind of cursed. When he got back to Denmark, he was thrown in jail (for one of his sailor's crimes), the king harangued him for leaving his favorite ship halfway across the globe, not to mention his wife had left him and thrown away most of his clothes. Munck would only be released from jail when King Christian of Denmark started running out of breathing sea captains in his latest naval conflict. It was in this conflict that, from a distance, Munck watched the Lamprey sink. Despite his iron will, that moment was what ultimately broke him and he gradually declined until his death back on land in Denmark. He is buried in an unmarked grave.