Inuit couple in deckhouse of whaling schooner, Hudson Bay, Canada

• Main Author: Comer, George (Creator)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Ownership Statement: Mystic Seaport 1897
• Subjects: Inuit; Whaling; Arctic; Bedford; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Monroe; New Bedford; The Schooner; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/70002:5505

An Inuit man and woman in traditional dress are seated inside the deckhouse on board the whaling schooner Era or A.T. Gifford, ca. 1897-1912. Lifestyle Livelihood Infrastructure Title supplied by cataloger. Information from original envelope identifies this as Photo # 6. 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. The schooner A.T. Gifford was built in 1883 at Essex, Massachusetts. George Comer was her master during one of his Arctic voyages in which he mapped areas in the Hudson Bay area. 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.