The first Europeans to reach Cambridge Bay were overland explorers led by Thomas Simpson in 1839; they were searching for a Northwest Passage and had crossed the sea ice on foot. Another overland expedition led by John Rae reached Cambridge Bay in 1851, and the first ship to reach the bay was under Richard Collinson who wintered there in 1852/53. Both Rae and Collinson were searching for Franklin's lost expedition. Collinson's ship came from the west, having entered the Canadian Arctic via the Bering Strait. This was the furthest east any large ship travelled from the Bering Strait until Henry Larsen in 1941. Cambridge Bay was the site of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) outposts established during the 1920s. Although at this point most Inuit would have continued the traditional lifestyle and only visited the area rather than live there permanently. The HBC opened a post here in 1921, later than in most places, and built at the site now called the "old town". In 1925 the HBC purchased the "Maud", which they renamed the "Baymaud", from the creditors of Arctic explorer, Roald Amundsen. The ship sailed to the Arctic in 1926 but it became stuck in the winter ice at Cambridge Bay. The ship was later anchored near the shore and used for various purposes including the first ever radio weather reports from the Arctic coast. In 1930 the ship sank and, although some material was removed at the time, the ship is remained visible for 86 years. A Norwegian plan to salvage the ship and return it to Norway, though initially denied an export permit, was granted on appeal, and was to be carried out in 2014 but was delayed to 2015 due to ice conditions preventing the arrival of salvage equipment until late in the open water season. The planned salvage of 2015 was delayed, however during the summer of 2016 the Maud was raised and prepared for return to Norway during the summer of 2017, where she will be displayed at a museum in Vollen, Asker.