Whaleboats being pulled by dogsleds, Hudson Bay, Canada

• Main Author: Comer, George (Creator)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Ownership Statement: Mystic Seaport 1897
• Subjects: Whaling; Whalers (Persons); Whaleboats; Boats and boating; Dogsledding; Dogs; Sleds; Arctic; Bedford; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; New Bedford
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/70002:5552

View of whaleboats on sleds being hauled by dog teams, identified as probably depicting the initial movement of whaleboats to floe edge for spring whaling, Hudson Bay, Canadian Arctic. Infrastructure Livelihood Title supplied by cataloger. Information from original envelope identifies this as Photo # 16. During the spring the whaling schooner was still frozen into the harbor ice, so the whaleboats were hauled out to the floe edge [the edge of the land-fast ice] and launched in search of whales. The boats were also provided with covers and used for shelter. 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.