Shaman and other Inuit inside snow house, west coast of Hudson Bay, Canada

• Main Authors: Comer, George (Creator), Lockwood, F.C. (Creator)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Ownership Statement: Mystic Seaport 1900
• Subjects: Whaling; Shamans; Rites and ceremonies; Inuit; Arctic; Bedford; Brooklyn; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Lockwood; New Bedford; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/70002:5498

A group of Inuit are gathered inside a snow house on the west coast of Hudson Bay, Canada, ca. 1900-1905. The man sitting at center is identified as an angakok (shaman) bound in preparation for a ritual trance. Lifestyle Infrastructure Title supplied by cataloger. 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. Slide prepared by F.C. Lockwood of Brooklyn, New York, from an original photograph by Captain George Comer. Slide was used by Comer to illustrate lectures about his Arctic and seafaring experiences.