A Tour of Hudson Bay Trivia Quiz

Answer: Explorer Henry Hudson

Hudson River and Hudson Bay were both named for early explorer, Henry Hudson. Henry Hudson had been hired by various trading companies to find new trade routes and passages. In 1609 he was sailing for the Dutch East India Company when he found what is now known as the Hudson River.

The following year he was backed by an English company and spent time mapping what he thought was the famed Northwest Passage. After they were forced to spend a winter ashore, the crew mutinied and set Hudson, his son and a few loyal or sick crew men adrift in a small, open boat while the rest took the main ship back to England.

The area where the mutiny occurred is now called Hudson Bay. Leith 90 explored this question before logging it into the quiz.

Answer: Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is landlocked by Manitoba to its east, Alberta to the west, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to the north and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Montana to its south.
The four Canadian provinces and territories that border Hudson Bay are Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
Jaknginger submitted this question as part of the Red Crew's journey of the Phoenix Rising's Global Tour.

Answer: Flaherty Island

Flaherty Island is the largest of the approximately 1,500 islands that make up the Belcher Islands archipelago located in the southeastern region of Hudson Bay. The island is named after the U.S. filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty who directed one of the first commercially successful documentary films, "Nanook of the North" (1922).

The island's principal settlement, Sanikiluaq, is an Inuit community that had a population of 1,010 per its 2021 census. After Flaherty Island, the next largest islands of the Belcher Islands are Kugong Island, Tukarak Island, and Innetalling Island. This question was belched into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

Answer: The freezing point is higher than that of ocean water

The large amount of freshwater surface runoff that enters the bay (700 cu-km) annually, and the relatively small connection with the Atlantic Ocean decreases the bay's salinity. Lower salinity means a higher freezing point.
A craggy old salt, Phoenix Rising's mike32768 overdid it and tore NACL.

Answer: Yes

It freezes for about 8-9 months every year, only thawing in summer. In mid-winter, the average temperatures is a frigid −20 °F (−29 °C), while in summer, the polar bears can enjoy 47 °F (8 °C) temps. Summer fogs are common, as are snowstorms and blizzards in December and January.

The question submitted by ozzz2002, an Australian, who has no concept of temperatures so low!

Answer: Hudson Bay has a larger shoreline

Hudson Bay has a surface area of 1.23 million sq km compared with the Bay of Bengal at 2.17 million sq km. Being surrounded almost entirely by land, the shoreline of Hudson Bay is longer than that of the Bay of Bengal. The average depth of the Bay of Bengal is 2600m - much deeper than the 100m average depth of Hudson Bay. Hudson Bay is entirely surrounded by Canada, and the Bay of Bengal touches several countries, including Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh.
Phoenix Rising's mike32768 noticed that there are no seagulls flying over Hudson Bay - if there were, they'd be bagels.

Answer: Beluga whale

The beluga whale is white or pale gray - beluga derives from the Russian word for "white." The bulbous "melon" in their forehead is seen in other toothed whales, but beluga are unique in the ability to change its shape, which may assist them in the variety of sounds they make.

The chirps, squeals and clicks they make leads to the nickname "Canary of the Seas." Beluga whales live circum-Arctic; tens of thousands congregate in Hudson Bay and breed in the warmer estuaries where the rivers empty into the Bay.

This question was babied into the quiz by player pusdoc, who had to listen to the Raffi song "Baby Beluga" every night to rock her firstborn to sleep.

Answer: Wapusk National Park

Wapusk National Park is famous as the site of Cape Churchill which is widely considered to be the best spot in the world to see wild polar bears. Wapusk comprises a vast area of 11,475 sq km (4,430 sq mi) but it is remote and only accessible by helicopter or Tundra Buggy. Polar bears come ashore from Hudson Bay during the winter when the ice freezes and many pregnant females will give birth in Wapusk National Park. Also on the western border of Hudson Bay in the area known as the Hudson Bay Lowlands is Polar Bear Provincial Park which is a part of the province of Ontario. This question was pawed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

Answer: False

Hudson Bay is an area rich in flora and fauna. In the interest of conservation Canada has designated the Hudson Bay Basin as a 'Mare Clausum' or 'closed sea'. This is opposite to 'Mare Liberum' or 'open sea' which allows unrestricted access to the main oceans in Maritime Law. Although Hudson Bay is generally considered to be part of the Arctic Ocean, Canada asks that US vessels pay a licensing fee to fish there.
Participating in the Phoenix Rising Global Tour, Red team's smpdit is a lesser version than James Bond- she is licensed to fish.

Answer: Point blanket

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) began life as a fur trading company back in the 1670s. A hundred years later they had begun weaving woollen blankets which they traded for beaver pelts. These blankets came in different sizes and originally had one blue or red stripe (heading) at each end.

The 'points' are a series of lines woven into the blanket and are used to signify the size of the blanket. If the blankets are folded and stored on shelves in a certain way, you could tell at a glance the size of each.

In the early 19th century, British soldiers stationed at Fort St. Joseph had not been issued with new uniforms for years and what they had were inadequate against the weather. They requisitioned the blankets and they were then made into greatcoats for the troops.

By the end of the 19th century the blankets were being copied by other businesses, so the HBC began sewing labels onto their blankets. The iconic blankets are white, with green, red, yellow and indigo stripes although they are now available in solid colours as well. This question was woven and wrapped into the quiz by leith90.