George Comer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Comer
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Capt. George Comer
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| Born | April 1858 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
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| Died | 1937 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Angakkuq ("the shaman") |
| Occupation | Whaler |
| Known for | Polar explorer |
| Title | Captain |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Chipman Comer |
| Children | Nellie, Thomas, Laurent Pameolik, John Ell(?) |
Captain George Comer (born April 1858 – died 1937) was a very famous American whaling captain. He was known for his voyages to Hudson Bay and was considered the top expert on the Inuit people living there in the early 1900s.
Comer was an explorer of the polar regions, a whaler (someone who hunts whales), and a sealer (someone who hunts seals). He also studied different cultures (an ethnologist), made maps (a cartographer), wrote books, and took many photos.
He made 14 trips to the Arctic (the North Pole region) and three trips to Antarctica (the South Pole region). These journeys, which happened between about 1875 and 1919, often started from New London, Connecticut or New Bedford, Massachusetts. George Comer was friends with other famous explorers like Robert Peary and Captain Frederick Cook. He was also mentored by Franz Boas, who is known as the "Father of American Anthropology."
Contents
Early Life and Family
George Comer was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, in 1858. His father was English, and his mother was Irish. When George was two years old, his family moved to the United States in 1860. He grew up in East Haddam, Connecticut.
Comer only went to school for two years. His father was lost at sea, and his mother could not take care of all the children. Because of this, George spent some time in an orphanage and later lived in a foster home in East Haddam.
In 1877, when George was 19, he married Julia Chipman, who was 20. They lived in East Haddam and had two children: a daughter named Nellie G., born in April 1878, and a son named Thomas L., born in April 1886. Thomas later became a ship officer.
Arctic Adventures
Comer's first trip to the Arctic was when he was 17 years old. In 1875, he sailed on the whaling ship Nile to Cumberland Sound near Baffin Island. From 1889 to 1891, he made three more trips on a ship called the Era to southeastern Baffin Island. After that, he spent 15 months whaling on the ship Canton from 1893 to 1894.
After 20 years of working on ships, George Comer became a captain in 1895. From 1895 to 1912, he was the captain on six whaling trips to Hudson Bay. During these trips, he often spent the winter in places like Roes Welcome Sound. He commanded the Era (which was wrecked in 1906) and the A. T. Gifford.
While spending winters in Hudson Bay, Comer met and became interested in the Aivilingmiut, Netsilingmiut, and Qaernermiut Inuit people. He hired Inuit men to help with whaling. They also provided caribou meat for his crew, which helped prevent a sickness called scurvy. Inuit women made warm caribou clothing for Comer's men, which was very important for surviving the cold Arctic winters.
Comer often took photos of the Inuit. Because of this, they gave him the Inuktitut name "Angakkuq," which means "the shaman" or spiritual healer. The Inuit found it hard to understand how images could be captured, so they thought it was a kind of magic.
Comer became close with an Aivilik woman named Niviatsianaq, also known as "Shoofly Comer." She traveled with him on his ships for several years. Her son, Oudlanak, also known as "John Ell," was with them. It was believed that John Ell might have been Comer's son. Comer also had another child in Hudson Bay with an Inuit woman named Ooktok, a son named Laurent Pameolik (born around 1911). After his birth mother died, Laurent was adopted by Shoofly and a shaman named Angutimarik.
In 1906, a fur dealer from New York City named F. N. Monjo bought the ship Era and hired Captain Comer to be its captain. However, Comer's ship was wrecked off the island of Miquelon later that year. Comer then became captain of Monjo's next ship, the schooner A. T. Gifford. He commanded this ship from 1907 to 1912. This whaling ship sailed from New London, Connecticut, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, hunting for whales and furs. It often spent winters at Cape Fullerton.
In 1907, Comer's expedition with Anthony Fiala helped set up supply bases in the Arctic. These bases were for another team that planned to try and reach the North Pole. Comer stopped whaling in 1912.
In 1915, Comer worked as an ice master on the ship George B. Cluett. This ship was hired by the American Museum of Natural History to bring back Donald Baxter MacMillan's men from the Crocker Land Expedition in Etah, Greenland. On the way, the Cluett got stuck in the ice for two years. This gave Comer a chance to do archaeological digs at Mount Dundas (Umánaq). There, he found signs of the Thule people, who were ancestors of the Inuit. His discovery is called "Comer's Midden" because it included a large pile of ancient kitchen waste.
Comer's last trip to the Arctic was in 1919. He wanted to say goodbye to his Inuit friends. He was hired by explorer Christian Leden to study the Inuit. But the ship, the Finback, got stuck and was lost at Cape Fullerton. An investigation was done into the accident. The good thing for Comer was that the accident gave him more time with his Inuit friends.
Antarctic Journeys
Comer also visited Antarctica on several trips to hunt seals. These included trips to South Georgia (from October 1885 to February 1886) and Kerguelen Island (from November 1887 to February 1888).
On his third trip, he was the Second Mate on an American ship called the Francis Alleyn. They hunted seals at Gough Island (from August 1888 to January 1889). Comer was the first person to write about a special flightless bird on the island, the Gough moorhen (scientific name: Gallinula comeri), which was named after him. Comer wrote about these birds: They cannot fly and only use their wings to help them in running. They are quite plentiful and can be caught by hand. They could not get on a table three feet high. The bushes grow on the island up to about 610 meters, and these birds are found as far up as the bushes grow. The tip of their bill is bright yellow, and they have scarlet between their eyes. Their legs and feet are yellow, with reddish spots.
Explorer and Mapmaker
Comer was highly respected for his work in Arctic anthropology (the study of human cultures), ethnology (the study of different peoples), natural history, geography, and mapmaking. Even though he didn't have formal training, he was taught by the famous anthropologist Franz Boas. In return, Comer gave Boas information that Boas used in his 1888 book, The Central Eskimo.
Comer published articles in 1910 and 1913 in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York. These articles included better maps and charts of Southampton Island. To honor his mapmaking skills, the Canadian government named a narrow strait near Roes Welcome Sound "Comer Strait" (65|45|N|85|05|W) after him. This strait separates northern Southampton Island from White Island.
Comer also wrote notes in American Anthropologist (1923) about the isolated Sadlermiut people of Southampton Island, who sadly died out in 1902. After they were gone, Comer tried to bring Aivilik people to live on Southampton Island. Shoofly's son, Oudlanak ("John Ell"), was the leader of this Aivilik group. However, within a year, the Aivilik moved to South Bay on the island.
In November 1903, Comer recorded songs of the Aivilingmiut and Qaernermiut Inuit on a phonograph in northwestern Hudson Bay. These are some of the earliest recordings of Inuit voices. While stuck in the ice at Cape Fullerton during the winters of 1910–1912, he made more phonograph records of local Inuit. He also saved the stories and legends of the Iluilirmiut people from Adelaide Peninsula. On board his ship Era, Comer made plaster molds of their faces. About 300 of these masks can now be found in museums in Germany, Canada, and New York.
The Canadian Museum of History bought a large collection of Comer's items in 1913. This included animal carvings made from ivory (fox, musk ox, narwhal, polar bear, wolf). Most of these were created by "Harry" Ippaktuq Tasseok, who was the Chief of the Aivilingmiut and Comer's main Inuit shipmate. Comer also collected animal skins, birds, bird eggs, and rocks from the Arctic and Antarctic for the American Museum of Natural History. These are now part of the museum's Comer Collection.
Later Years
George Comer retired in East Haddam, Connecticut. Even after retiring, he continued to send gifts to his Inuit friends. He remained active and even served in the Connecticut State Legislature. He was not in good health in his later years and passed away in East Haddam in 1937 at the age of 79.
Ships George Comer Sailed On
- Green mate on the Nile (whaling ship), 1875
- Mate on the Era (whaling ship), 1889–1892
- Mate on the Canton (whaling ship), 1893–1894
- Captain of the Era (schooner), 1895–1906
- Captain of the A. T. Gifford (whaling/sealing schooner), 1907–1912
- Captain of the George B. Cluett, 1915–1917
- Navigation officer on the U.S.S. Radnor and U.S.S. Wyska (freighters), 1918–1919
- 2nd officer on the U.S.S. Elinor (steamship), 1919
- Captain of the Finback (auxiliary schooner), 1919
- Captain of the Blossom (schooner), 1923–1924
Honors and Recognition
- He was a Fellow in the council of the American Geographical Society.
- Two places/species were named in his honor:
- Comer Strait, a narrow body of water off Southampton Island, Nunavut.
- Gallinula comeri, a flightless bird found on Gough Island.
