Whale head being hoisted over side of whaling schooner Era, Hudson Bay, Canada

• Main Author: Comer, George (Creator)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Ownership Statement: Mystic Seaport 1897
• Subjects: Whales; Whaling; Whaling ships; Schooners; Sailing ships; Ships; Era (Schooner); Arctic; Bedford; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Monroe; New Bedford; The Schooner; bowhead whale
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/70002:5512

View of a portion of a bowhead whale head, with baleen clearly visible, alongside the whaling schooner Era, Hudson Bay, Canada, ca. 1897-1905. Scene is described as "whale head being hoisted over side of vessel." Infrastructure Livelihood Title supplied by cataloger. Information from original envelope identifies this as Photo # 118. Number 7 is etched into emulsion on lower part of plate. 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.