William Moor (died 1765) was a British sailor and explorer associated with the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

(HBC) and the annual supply ships to the bay area. Moor was involved, under the supervision of his cousin, Christopher Middleton, with voyages to the bay from about 1730 to 1741 and carried out increasingly important duties during that period. In 1741 he and Middleton left the HBC's employ and Moor was given command of to aid his cousin in in a search for the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

. They overwintered at

Prince of Wales Fort The Prince of Wales Fort is a historic bastion fort on Hudson Bay across the Churchill River from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. History The European history of this area starts with Henry Hudson sailing into Hudson Bay in 1610. The area wa ...

where sickness plagued the crews. Their survey of the shoreline and tides of the west side of Hudson Bay was not particularly successful. Moor and Middleton and the 1741–1742 expedition were under the scrutiny of

Arthur Dobbs Arthur Dobbs (2 April 1689 – 28 March 1765) was a British colonial official who served as the seventh governor of North Carolina from 1754 until 1764. Early life and career Dobbs was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, where his mother had been sen ...

, an opponent of the HBC monopoly of the bay area. Middleton was accused of protecting the HBC monopoly and Moor took the side of Dobbs. In 1746, Moor was in command of a private discovery expedition to Hudson Bay funded by Dobbs and others. After a short and unsuccessful period of exploration by the two ships, they decided to overwinter at the HBC post at

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...

. The next summer some good exploration was carried out on the western shore and discovered Chesterfield Inlet but did not fully explore it. He also examined

Rankin Inlet Rankin Inlet ( iu, Kangiqliniq; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅ or ''Kangirliniq'', ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ, or ''Kangir&iniq'' meaning ''deep bay/inlet'') is an Inuit hamlet on Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and ...

and

Wager Bay Wager Bay or Ukkusiksalik Bay is long narrow inlet in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada, which opens east into Roes Welcome Sound at the northwest end of Hudson Bay. Ukkusiksalik National Park surrounds it. History Wager Bay was first c ...

. At a point, after further exploration, illness and threats of mutiny turned the expedition for home. Moor's competence as a commander was called into question on his return. There is little doubt that his weakness and uncertainty affected the expedition but the unhappiness of the investors was also because he refused to engage in illegal trade on their behalf. Moor appears to have retired around this time. His explorations did add significantly to the knowledge of the area despite his problems with the command of the expedition.

References

1765 deaths English explorers of North America Explorers of Canada Year of birth unknown People from Greatham, County Durham English sailors {{Canada-hist-stub