George Comer
Encyclopedia
Captain George Comer was considered the most famous American whaling captain of Hudson Bay
, and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit
in the early 20th century.
Comer was a polar explorer
, whaler
/sealer, ethnologist
, cartographer
, author, and photographer. He made 14 Arctic
and three Antarctic voyages in his lifetime. These expeditions (ca. 1875-1919) commonly began in New London, Connecticut
or New Bedford, Massachusetts
. Comer's circle of friends and colleagues included other notable explorers of the time, such as Robert Peary
and Capt. Frederick Cook
,
and his mentor, Franz Boas
, the "Father of American Anthropology".
in 1858. His father was English, and his mother was Irish. The family immigrated to the United States in 1860 and Comer grew up in East Haddam, Connecticut
. He attended school for only two years. After Comer's father was lost at sea, his mother couldn't support the children. Subsequently, Comer spent time in an orphanage and an East Haddam foster home.
In 1877, Comer (age 19), married Julia Chipman (age 20; born in Pennsylvania) and they made their home on Mount Parnassus Road in East Haddam. They had two children:
daughter, Nellie G. (born April 1878), and son, Thomas L. (April 1886 - 1930), a seaship officer.
Nile bound for Cumberland Sound
, Baffin Island
in 1875. From 1889 to 1891, he made three cruises on the schooner
Era to southeastern Baffin Island. These were followed by 15 months whaling on the Canton during 1893-1894.
After 20 years of seafaring, Comer became captain of his first ship in 1895. From 1895-1912, Comer was the master on six whaling cruises to the Hudson Bay, including wintering in Roes Welcome Sound
, on the Era (wrecked off Newfoundland in 1906) (Eber, 1989, pp. 25), and the A. T. Gifford
.
While wintering in the Hudson Bay, Comer became acquainted with and concerned for the Aivilingmiut
, Netsilingmiut
, and Qaernermiut
. Comer hired the Caribou Inuit
men as whaling hands and they supplied caribou
meat for his crew saving them from developing scurvy
. The Inuit women made caribou clothing for Comer's men, vital for survival through Arctic winters. Comer photographed the Inuit on many occasions and for that he was given the Inuktitut name "Angakkuq" (meaning, "the shaman
"), as the images were not a reality easily understood by the Inuit.
Comer developed a bond with an Aivilik woman named Niviatsianaq (or Nivisanaaq), referred to amongst Inuit as "Shoofly Comer". She was Comer's traveling companion on his ships for several years, bringing her son Oudlanak, referred to as "John Ell", who was rumored to be Comer's biological son, with her. Comer fathered at least one other child while in Hudson Bay with an Inuit woman named Ooktok, Laurent Pameolik (1911-?). Pameolik was adopted by Shoofly and the shaman Angutimarik after the death of his birth mother.
In 1906, New York City furrier F. N. Monjo purchased the Era and hired Capt. Comer as its captain, but Comer wrecked the vessel on the island of Miquelon
, off Newfoundland, later that year. Comer then became captain of Monjo's next purchase, the schooner A. T. Gifford, which he commanded from 1907 until 1912. This whaler operated out of New London, Connecticut
, for the 1907 voyage and New Bedford, MA, for the 1910 voyage, hunting for whales and furs, and wintering at Cape Fullerton
.
His 1907 Anthony Fiala
expedition was chartered to establish supply bases in the Arctic in preparation for a second team who would attempt to the reach the North Pole
. Comer retired from whaling in 1912.
In 1915, Comer served as ice master on the George B. Cluett, chartered by the American Museum of Natural History
to bring back Donald MacMillan
's men from the Crocker Land Expedition
at Etah
, in northern Greenland
. Enroute, the Cluett became ice trapped for two years, giving Comer opportunity to perform archaeological excavations at Mount Dundas (Umánaq, Uummannaq or Umanak) a hill near Pituffik
, where he unearthed evidence of what is now referred to as the Thule people
, ancestors of the Inuit. His find is called "Comer's Midden
" as it included a kitchen-midden
.
Comer's last Arctic trip occurred in 1919, in part as a farewell to his Inuit friends. It was a charter by Arctic explorer/ethnologist Christian Leden
to study amongst the Inuit. But the schooner, the Finback, grounded at Cape Fullerton and was lost. An investigation was made into the grounding, and the circumstances were found to be suspect. For Comer, the benefit of the accident was the time extension he had with his long-time Inuit friends.
(October 9, 1885 - February 11, 1886) and Kerguelen Island
(November 24, 1887 - February 5, 1888).
On his third voyage, he was Second Mate
on the American schooner, the Francis Alleyn that sealed at Gough Island
(August 22, 1888 - January 23, 1889). Comer is noted as having written the first account of the island's endemic flightless moorhen
, the species Gallinula comeri
, named after him. Comer wrote of them:
. In return, Comer provided Boas with information that was used by Boas's in his 1888 book, The Central Eskimo.
Comer published papers in 1910 and 1913 in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York providing improved maps and charts of Southampton Island
. In appreciation for his cartography, the government of Canada named the narrow strait around the bend of Roes Welcome Sound that separates northern Southampton Island from White Island "Comer Strait
" (65°45′N 85°05′W) in his honor.
Comer also published notes in American Anthropologist
(1923) about Southampton Island's isolated Sadlermiut
who became extinct in 1902. Subsequent to their extinction, Comer attempted to repopulate Southampton Island at the exceedingly flat Cape Kendall on the island's western shore, northwest of the Bay of Gods Mercy
, with Aivilik. Shoofly's only child, Oudlanak ("John Ell"), was the Aivilik group leader. However, within a year, the Aivilik moved to South Bay (an inner cove on the south side of Southampton Island) and they occasionally crossed to Repulse Bay went weather permitted.
In November 1903, Comer recorded Aivilingmiut and Qaernermiut songs on a phonograph while in northwestern Hudson Bay, notable as some of the earliest recorded voices of Inuit. Frozen in the ice at Cape Fullerton
during the winters of 1910-1912, he made phonograph records of local Inuit, and preserved Adelaide Peninsula
's Iluilirmiut folklore and legends. On board the Era, Comer made plaster casts of their faces. The 300 masks can be found in museums in Germany, Canada, and New York. The Canadian Museum of Civilization
bought a large collection of Comer's artifacts in 1913, including a group of animal ivories (fox, musk ox, narwhal, polar bear, wolf), most of which, if not all, were created by "Harry" Ippaktuq Tasseok (or Teseuke), Chief of the Aivilingmiut, and Comer's chief Inuit shipmate while wintering at Cape Fullerton. Commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History, Comer also collected Arctic and Antarctic animal skins, birds, bird's eggs, and geological specimens now at the museum's Comer Collection.
Comer remained active, including serving in the Connecticut State Legislature. He was in ill health in latter years, and died in East Haddam in 1937 at age 79.
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
, and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
in the early 20th century.
Comer was a polar explorer
Polar region
Earth's polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles also known as frigid zones. The North Pole and South Pole being the centers, these regions are dominated by the polar ice caps, resting respectively on the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica...
, whaler
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
/sealer, ethnologist
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
, cartographer
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
, author, and photographer. He made 14 Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
and three Antarctic voyages in his lifetime. These expeditions (ca. 1875-1919) commonly began in New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
or New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. Comer's circle of friends and colleagues included other notable explorers of the time, such as Robert Peary
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
and Capt. Frederick Cook
Frederick Cook
Frederick Albert Cook was an American explorer and physician, noted for his claim of having reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. This would have been a year before April 6, 1909, the date claimed by Robert Peary....
,
and his mentor, Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
, the "Father of American Anthropology".
Personal life
Comer was born in Quebec City, QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in 1858. His father was English, and his mother was Irish. The family immigrated to the United States in 1860 and Comer grew up in East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,333 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
. He attended school for only two years. After Comer's father was lost at sea, his mother couldn't support the children. Subsequently, Comer spent time in an orphanage and an East Haddam foster home.
In 1877, Comer (age 19), married Julia Chipman (age 20; born in Pennsylvania) and they made their home on Mount Parnassus Road in East Haddam. They had two children:
daughter, Nellie G. (born April 1878), and son, Thomas L. (April 1886 - 1930), a seaship officer.
Arctic expeditions
Comer made the first of his Arctic voyages at age 17 on the whalerWhaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
Nile bound for Cumberland Sound
Cumberland Sound
Cumberland Sound is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a western arm of the Labrador Sea located between Baffin Island's Hall Peninsula and the Cumberland Peninsula...
, Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
in 1875. From 1889 to 1891, he made three cruises on the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Era to southeastern Baffin Island. These were followed by 15 months whaling on the Canton during 1893-1894.
After 20 years of seafaring, Comer became captain of his first ship in 1895. From 1895-1912, Comer was the master on six whaling cruises to the Hudson Bay, including wintering in Roes Welcome Sound
Roes Welcome Sound
Roes Welcome Sound is an Arctic Ocean waterway in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Foxe Basin and opens north to Repulse Bay. It is situated between the mainland and Southampton Island, north of Marble Island. Roes Welcome Sound measures long, and wide.It is named after Sir...
, on the Era (wrecked off Newfoundland in 1906) (Eber, 1989, pp. 25), and the A. T. Gifford
A. T. Gifford (ship)
The A. T. Gifford was the last American schooner-rigged whaleship to cruise Hudson Bay. It caught fire and sank in late 1915. Although the captain and a few of his crew escaped the wreck, none survived the disaster.- Construction and Ownership :...
.
Aivilingmiut
The Aivilingmiut are an Inuit people who traditionally have resided north of Hudson Bay in Canada, near Naujaat , Chesterfield Inlet, Southampton Island, and Cape Fullerton. They are descendants of the Thule people and are considered a southern subgroup of the Iglulik Inuit...
, Netsilingmiut
Netsilik Inuit
The Netsilik Inuit live predominantly in the communities of Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and to a smaller extent in Taloyoak and the north Qikiqtaaluk Region...
, and Qaernermiut
Chesterfield Inlet
Chesterfield Inlet is an inlet in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an arm of northwestern Hudson Bay, and the end point of the Thelon River after its passage through Baker Lake. Cross Bay, a large widening of the inlet, occurs east of Baker Lake...
. Comer hired the Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit, Barren-ground Caribou hunters, are bands of inland Inuit who lived west of Hudson Bay in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W...
men as whaling hands and they supplied caribou
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
meat for his crew saving them from developing scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
. The Inuit women made caribou clothing for Comer's men, vital for survival through Arctic winters. Comer photographed the Inuit on many occasions and for that he was given the Inuktitut name "Angakkuq" (meaning, "the shaman
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the shamans’ role as a mediator between people and spirits, souls, and mythological beings...
"), as the images were not a reality easily understood by the Inuit.
Comer developed a bond with an Aivilik woman named Niviatsianaq (or Nivisanaaq), referred to amongst Inuit as "Shoofly Comer". She was Comer's traveling companion on his ships for several years, bringing her son Oudlanak, referred to as "John Ell", who was rumored to be Comer's biological son, with her. Comer fathered at least one other child while in Hudson Bay with an Inuit woman named Ooktok, Laurent Pameolik (1911-?). Pameolik was adopted by Shoofly and the shaman Angutimarik after the death of his birth mother.
In 1906, New York City furrier F. N. Monjo purchased the Era and hired Capt. Comer as its captain, but Comer wrecked the vessel on the island of Miquelon
Miquelon
Miquelon may refer to*Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a territorial collectivity of France**Miquelon-Langlade, the less populous of two communes which are part of Saint Pierre and Miquelon***Miquelon, Miquelon-Langlade, the capital thereof...
, off Newfoundland, later that year. Comer then became captain of Monjo's next purchase, the schooner A. T. Gifford, which he commanded from 1907 until 1912. This whaler operated out of New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, for the 1907 voyage and New Bedford, MA, for the 1910 voyage, hunting for whales and furs, and wintering at Cape Fullerton
Cape Fullerton
Cape Fullerton is a cape and peninsula in Nunavut, Canada located on the northwest shores of Hudson Bay on Roes Welcome Sound and includes Fullerton Harbour...
.
His 1907 Anthony Fiala
Anthony Fiala
Anthony Fiala was an American explorer, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and educated at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, New York City...
expedition was chartered to establish supply bases in the Arctic in preparation for a second team who would attempt to the reach the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
. Comer retired from whaling in 1912.
In 1915, Comer served as ice master on the George B. Cluett, chartered by the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
to bring back Donald MacMillan
Donald B. MacMillan
Donald Baxter MacMillan was an American explorer, sailor, researcher and lecturer who made over 30 expeditions to the Arctic during his 46-year career...
's men from the Crocker Land Expedition
Crocker Land Expedition
The Crocker Land Expedition was an ill-fated 1913 expedition to investigate Crocker Land, a huge island supposedly sighted by the explorer Robert Peary from the top of Cape Colgate in 1906...
at Etah
Etah, Greenland
Etah is an abandoned settlement in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northern Greenland. It was a starting point of discovery expeditions to the North Pole, and the landing site of the last migration of the Inuit from the Canadian Arctic.- Geography :...
, in northern Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. Enroute, the Cluett became ice trapped for two years, giving Comer opportunity to perform archaeological excavations at Mount Dundas (Umánaq, Uummannaq or Umanak) a hill near Pituffik
Pituffik
Pituffik is a former settlement in northern Greenland, located at the current site of the American Thule Air Base. The former inhabitants were relocated to the present-day town of Qaanaaq...
, where he unearthed evidence of what is now referred to as the Thule people
Thule people
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
, ancestors of the Inuit. His find is called "Comer's Midden
Comer's Midden
Comer's Midden is a 1916 archaeological excavation site near the"Arctic Station of Thule" , north of Mt. Dundas , in North Star Bay, northern Greenland. It is the find after which the Thule culture is named...
" as it included a kitchen-midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
.
Comer's last Arctic trip occurred in 1919, in part as a farewell to his Inuit friends. It was a charter by Arctic explorer/ethnologist Christian Leden
Christian Leden
Christian Leden was a Norwegian ethno-musicologist and composer. He was the first person to record film in the northern Arctic.-Early years:...
to study amongst the Inuit. But the schooner, the Finback, grounded at Cape Fullerton and was lost. An investigation was made into the grounding, and the circumstances were found to be suspect. For Comer, the benefit of the accident was the time extension he had with his long-time Inuit friends.
Antarctic expeditions
Comer visited Antarctica on several sealing voyages, including: South GeorgiaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
(October 9, 1885 - February 11, 1886) and Kerguelen Island
Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen Islands , also known as the Desolation Islands, are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean constituting the emerged part of the otherwise submerged Kerguelen Plateau. The islands, along with Adélie Land, the Crozet Islands and the Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands are part of...
(November 24, 1887 - February 5, 1888).
On his third voyage, he was Second Mate
Second Mate
A second mate or second officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The second mate is the third in command and a watchkeeping officer, customarily the ship's navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate is often the medical officer and in charge of maintaining...
on the American schooner, the Francis Alleyn that sealed at Gough Island
Gough Island
Gough Island , also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares or Diego Alvarez, is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha...
(August 22, 1888 - January 23, 1889). Comer is noted as having written the first account of the island's endemic flightless moorhen
Moorhen
Moorhens, sometimes called marsh hens, are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Gallinula....
, the species Gallinula comeri
Gough Island Moorhen
The Gough Moorhen, Gallinula comeri, is a medium-sized, almost flightless bird that is similar to the Common Moorhen , but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings. The bird has a distinctive bill that is reddish with a yellow tip. Its first account was written by the polar explorer George...
, named after him. Comer wrote of them:
"They cannot fly and only use their wings to help them in running... They are quite plentiful and can be caught by hand. Could not get on a table three feet high. The bushes grow on the island up to about 2000 feet (609.6 m), and these birds are found as far up as the bushes grow... Tip of bill bright yellow, scarlet between the eyes. Legs and feet yellow, with reddish spots."
Ethnologist and cartographer
Comer was highly regarded for his Arctic anthropology, ethnology, natural history, geography, and cartography work. Lacking formal training, Comer was mentored by anthropologist Franz BoasFranz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
. In return, Comer provided Boas with information that was used by Boas's in his 1888 book, The Central Eskimo.
Southampton Island
Southampton Island is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the island is stated as by Statistics Canada . It is the 34th largest...
. In appreciation for his cartography, the government of Canada named the narrow strait around the bend of Roes Welcome Sound that separates northern Southampton Island from White Island "Comer Strait
Comer Strait
Comer Strait is a narrow waterway separating the northeastern tip of Southampton Island from the western shore of White Island in Nunavut's Foxe Basin. It is also the western entrance to the Duke of York Bay....
" (65°45′N 85°05′W) in his honor.
Comer also published notes in American Anthropologist
American Anthropologist
American Anthropologist is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association . It is known for publishing a wide range of work in anthropology, including articles on cultural, biological and linguistic anthropology and archeology...
(1923) about Southampton Island's isolated Sadlermiut
Sadlermiut
The Sadlermiut were an Eskimo group living in near isolation mainly on and around Coats Island, Walrus Island, and Southampton Island in Hudson Bay...
who became extinct in 1902. Subsequent to their extinction, Comer attempted to repopulate Southampton Island at the exceedingly flat Cape Kendall on the island's western shore, northwest of the Bay of Gods Mercy
Bay of Gods Mercy
Bay of Gods Mercy is a waterway in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Hudson Bay off southwestern Southampton Island. The Boas River empties into the bay....
, with Aivilik. Shoofly's only child, Oudlanak ("John Ell"), was the Aivilik group leader. However, within a year, the Aivilik moved to South Bay (an inner cove on the south side of Southampton Island) and they occasionally crossed to Repulse Bay went weather permitted.
In November 1903, Comer recorded Aivilingmiut and Qaernermiut songs on a phonograph while in northwestern Hudson Bay, notable as some of the earliest recorded voices of Inuit. Frozen in the ice at Cape Fullerton
Cape Fullerton
Cape Fullerton is a cape and peninsula in Nunavut, Canada located on the northwest shores of Hudson Bay on Roes Welcome Sound and includes Fullerton Harbour...
during the winters of 1910-1912, he made phonograph records of local Inuit, and preserved Adelaide Peninsula
Adelaide Peninsula
Adelaide Peninsula , ancestral home to the Illuilirmiut Inuit, is a large peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is located at south of King William Island....
's Iluilirmiut folklore and legends. On board the Era, Comer made plaster casts of their faces. The 300 masks can be found in museums in Germany, Canada, and New York. The Canadian Museum of Civilization
Canadian Museum of Civilization
The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....
bought a large collection of Comer's artifacts in 1913, including a group of animal ivories (fox, musk ox, narwhal, polar bear, wolf), most of which, if not all, were created by "Harry" Ippaktuq Tasseok (or Teseuke), Chief of the Aivilingmiut, and Comer's chief Inuit shipmate while wintering at Cape Fullerton. Commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History, Comer also collected Arctic and Antarctic animal skins, birds, bird's eggs, and geological specimens now at the museum's Comer Collection.
Later years
Comer retired in East Haddam, having survived two shipwrecks, two near-drownings, and an attempted shooting. But he continued to send presents to his Inuit friends.Comer remained active, including serving in the Connecticut State Legislature. He was in ill health in latter years, and died in East Haddam in 1937 at age 79.
Vessels
- Green mate, Nile (whaler), 1875
- Mate, Era (whaler), 1889–1892
- Mate, Canton (whaler), 1893–1894
- Master, Era (schooner), 1895–1906
- Master, A. T. GiffordA. T. Gifford (ship)The A. T. Gifford was the last American schooner-rigged whaleship to cruise Hudson Bay. It caught fire and sank in late 1915. Although the captain and a few of his crew escaped the wreck, none survived the disaster.- Construction and Ownership :...
(whaling/sealing schooner of New Bedford), 1907–1912 - Master, George B. Cluett, 1915–1917
- Lt. J. G. George Comer, navigation officer, U.S.S. Radnor (freighter) and U.S.S. Wyska (freighter), 1918–1919
- Lt. George Comer, 2nd officer, U.S.S. Elinor (steamship), 1919
- Master, Finback (auxiliary schooner), 1919
- Master, Blossom (schooner), 1923–1924
Awards and honors
- Fellow in the council of the American Geographical SocietyAmerican Geographical SocietyThe American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
- Named in his honor:
- Comer Strait, off Southampton Island, Nunavut
- Gallinula comeriGough Island MoorhenThe Gough Moorhen, Gallinula comeri, is a medium-sized, almost flightless bird that is similar to the Common Moorhen , but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings. The bird has a distinctive bill that is reddish with a yellow tip. Its first account was written by the polar explorer George...
, flightless bird on Gough Island
External links
- The wreck of the Finback, by W. O. Douglas
- "New Bedford Captain He Knew as a Boy Confiscated Cleveland's Stock of Furs" May 4, 1924 New Bedford Sunday Standard article relating a fist fight with Capt. Comer (as "Capt. Stoner").
- Photos: