| Summary: | A group of Inuit identified by the photographer as "Iwilic natives" are on the deck of the whaling schooner Era in Hudson Bay, Canadian Arctic, ca. 1897-1905. The men are wearing clothes identified as obtained from the Americans. Infrastructure Lifestyle Title supplied by cataloger. The number 15 is etched in to the emulsion on the lower part of the plate. The Inuit identified as "Iwilic" are more accurately designated as the Aivilik (or Aivillingmiut), a group of Iglulik Inuit. These Inuit of the west coast region of Hudson Bay were closely associated with Captain George Comer and the American whalers for many years. 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.
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