The Work of Captain George Comer-Whaling and Anthropology in the Arctic by Fred Calabretta aririme commerce, naval activity, exploration, and a spirit of adventure have driven American ships around the globe, often carrying them to distant and isolated regions. American mariners often interacted with the native people of these regions, experiencing unique opportunities to observe or document cultures and peoples little known to the rest of the world. Few Americans have taken greater advantage of such opportunities than Captain George Comer (1858-1937) of East Haddam, Connecticut. His whaling voyages to Hudson Bay provided extended periods of interaction with the Inuit, the native people of the Canadian Arctic. Comer embraced this opportunity, making comprehensive and multifaceted studies of the Inuit. His work elevated him to a position of high regard among the world's leading anthropologists and museum curators. A sailor with only a limited education, he captured an extraordinary record of a people who ranked among the least-documented groups in North America. In sharp contrast to the extensive records documenting his working life, derails of Comer's early years remain elusive. According to his own statements, he was born in Quebec in 1858 to an English seafaring father and an Irish mother, both immigrants. Within a year or two of his birth, his father disappeared or died at sea. Full derails of his mother's subsequent activities are unclear, bur at some point she made her way to New England. She seems to have moved frequently with George in row, sometimes earning a meager living as a was herwoman. By the early 1860s, her name appears occasionally in city directories, census records, and almshouse records in several locales throughout Connecticur and Massachusetts. Most telling among these are records indicating George and his mother Johanna were occasional residents of the stare-operated Tewksbury Almshouse in Massachusetts. In the early to mid- l 860s, such institutions housed, nor only the poor, bur also the insane, individuals suffering from serious illness, and Civil War veterans with debilitating wounds. Ir had to have been a very disturbing environment for a yo ung boy. In 1865, the seven-year-old George
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was permanently separated from his mother and placed in an orphanage in Hartford. Four years later he was sent to live with a foster family in East Haddam, Connecticut. He appears to have been comfortable there and, perhaps, finally found a sense of security with his foster family. Then, in 1875, he left farm life behind and headed to New London, where he shipped our on a whaler. He signed on the barque Nile with Captain John 0. Spicer, bound for Cumberland Sound and Hudson Straits. Spicer was a rugged veteran of the Arctic, who relied on his fists to enforce discipline aboard his ship. He knew Arctic waters well and had established an excellent working relarionshi p with the Inuit of Hudson Bay, who were commonly known among whalers as Eskimos or simply "natives." This voyage profoundly influenced Comer's life. Ir established him in his career as a m ariner and introduced him to the far North and its native people. Ir would be fourteen years, however, before Comer returned to the North. Later he would make thirteen more voyages to the Arctic bur, in the meantime, he first had work to do on the opposite end of the globe. Following completion of the Nile's voyage, Comer stayed closer to home for a few years, sailing on coasting vessels. In 1879, he joined the schooner Mary E. Higgins on a sealing voyage to the region near Cape Horn . For the next ten years, Comer participated in the New London and Sron-
ingron-based sealing industry. In addition to the Cape Horn region, his voyages took him to Heard and Desolation Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean and Gough's Island in the South Atlantic. These destinations shared several attributes-they were home to seals, sea lions, and brutal weather. The sealing industry in the second half of the nineteenth century returned good profits to shipowners, but it was rough on the men, who endured arduous living conditions and hazardous work. Their quarry included seals, taken for their furs, and elephant seals, hunted for oil. They killed the massive elephant seals wiLh rifles and lances and used clubs to kill the seals. It was rough business and bites and other injuries were common. Much of the work was conducted ashore following dicey boat landings. On one such occasion, Comer fell overboard and nearly drowned. The crews often erected temporary shelters and stayed ashore for several days, taking as many seals or sea lions as they could. Beaches were rocky, weather was often miserable, and the men endured dampness and cold in their makeshift quarters. Comer fared well despite the challenges and, by the time of his last sealing voyage, he was serving as second mate. The hardships of the sealing industry were good training for what was to come. In 1889, Comer returned to the North, reuniting with Captain Spicer and making three consecutive annual voyages to Hudson Bay and Cumberland Sound. All three voyages were made in the Era, a 91-foot topsail schooner originally built as a packet in 1847. She had long exceeded her life expectancy and was now earning a living dodging Arctic ice. The Era became very important to Comer, serving him not just as a whaleship, but also as a ship of discovery. Together, Comer and the Era would establish an important presence in Hudson Bay. Comer returned there in 1893, this rime sailing from New Bedford as second mate on the barque Canton. This was Comer's first wintering voyage. The ship spent the winter intentionally frozen into the Hudson Bay ice-a practice which allowed crews to get a head start on the summer whaling season. As the pack ice in Hudson Bay began to break up in
SEA HISTORY 123 , SUMMER 2008