Seated Inuit man, Melichi [Meliki), Hudson Bay, Canada

• Main Author: Comer, George (Creator)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Ownership Statement: Mystic Seaport 1904
• Subjects: Inuit; Whaling ships; Schooners; Ships; Era (Schooner); Arctic; Bedford; Canada; Cape Fullerton; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Monroe; New Bedford; Southampton Island; The Schooner; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/70002:5413

An Inuit man identified as Melichi [Meliki], poses in front of a sailcloth backdrop, probably on board the whaling schooner Era, Cape Fullerton, Hudson Bay, Canada, January 1904. Infrastructure Lifestyle Title supplied by cataloger. Information from original envelope identifies this as Photo 31, # 78. Melichi died on Southampton Island during the winter of 1909-1910. The schooner Era was built in 1847 at Boston, Massachusetts. She was a New London whaling vessel until her last voyage out of that port in 1892; her masters included James Monroe Buddington, John O. Spicer, and George Comer. She was wrecked off Miquelon Island, July 27, 1906. Taken by Captain George Comer (1858-1937), a sealer and whaling captain from East Haddam. He went to sea while still in his teens and was later master of vessels from both New London and New Bedford. Comer participated in voyages involved in polar expeditions and was noted for his studies of Arctic peoples and their environment.