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Captain Joseph-Elzear Bernier
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Source : Wikipedia
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Joseph-Elzéar Bernier is the greatest seaman and Arctic explorer the world has ever known. |
His interest in the Arctic begins after a meeting with the Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall. In 1895, when he is governor of the Quebec City prison, he develops an exploration project of the Arctic territories which he will try to promote for several years.
The Canadian government declines his first request for funding of an exploration. However, following the interest shown by Americans for the Arctic and the repeated incursions of foreign whalers in the Canadian Arctic waters, Canada grants him the funding for a first exploratory expedition. Subsequently, in 1904, Captain Bernier starts to explore the Canadian Arctic aboard a steamship. On July 1st 1909, Bernier lays down a plaque on Melville Island which officially claims the Arctic Islands for Canada. This area amounts to one-fifth of the size of Canada today. Captain Bernier will lead many other expeditions to the Great North until 1911.
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During World War I, Joseph-Elzéar commands a conveyor in the Atlantic. When the war ends, he gets back navigating the Arctic and retires in 1925. He will spend the rest of his life giving many lectures about the Arctic, in Canada and abroad, as well as traveling to every continent. A true legend even before his death, his life was full of epic adventures, travels and remarkable achievements. During his lifetime, he will have crossed the Atlantic Ocean on 269 occasions and sometimes in record times, commanded more than 150 vessels and carried out 12 dangerous expeditions in the Canadian Arctic.He has also contributed to raise the Canadians awareness to the political and economic importance of the Canadian North. Joseph-Elzéar Bernier died on December 26th, 1934 at the age of 82, at his home in Lévis.
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Source : Levis College Fondation Bernier's globe acquired by Novo. |
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