Career
lieutenant was, nonetheless, a voyage of discovery and Thomas Button was an explorer as well. They wintered at what is now known as Portuguese Nelson and the next year headed north to search for the Northwest Passage. They lost the Resolution to sea ice and continued on to 65° North.
He discovered and named Mansel Island and returned to England in September 1613.
He is credited with exploring and securing the west coast of Hudson Bay for his country. He named the area New Wales.
The region would again be visited twelve years later in 1631 by Captains Thomas James and Luke Foxe. Supposedly Captain Foxe, upon discovering a cross erected by Button at Portuguese Nelson, christened the shore north of the Nelson River as New North Wales and all the lands south as New South Wales.
Button was knighted by James I. He continued on to have a successful naval career and became an Admiral, appointed "Admiral of the King"s Ships on the coast of Ireland" for the rest of his career.
Despite his standing in the Royal Navy, he had a long quarrel with the English Admiralty which was nearing resolution in his favour at the time of his death. Button and his men were the first recorded Europeans to walk in the area now known as Manitoba. His discovery meant others followed after him, using his landmarks, his stories, and his detailed notes.
The first maps of areas near Hudson Bay were struck from his explorations and from those of his predecessor, Henry Hudson.
They were the first Europeans in this area of North America. He was one of the very first Europeans to explore North America in many areas that are now part of Canada.
The Nelson River was named by him. Most of the Hudson Bay Company history is not very well known, even with the vast archives available in Manitoba, Canada.
The largest land purchase in Canadian history is due to the Hudson Bay Company holdings, and the first explorers and map makers in the area.
