In this third volume of In Those Days, Harper shares stories of the rise and fall of the whaling industry in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. At the turn of the nineteenth century, whale baleen and blubbe
In this third volume of In Those Days, Harper shares stories of the rise and fall of the whaling industry in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. At the turn of the nineteenth century, whale baleen and blubber were extremely valuable commodities, and so sailors braved the treacherous Arctic waters, risking starvation, scurvy, and death, to bring home the bounty of the North. The presence of these whalemen in the North would irrevocably alter the lives of Inuit.
Along with first-hand accounts from journals and dozens of rare, historical photographs, this collection includes the myth of the Octavius—a ship that drifted for twelve years with a frozen crew—encounters between sailors and Inuit, tales of the harrowing hazing rituals suffered by first-time crew members, and much more.
Each installment of In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History covers a particularly fascinating aspect of traditional Inuit life. Collected from the columns of Arctic historian Kenn Harper, these volumes shed light on Inuit life and how outside forces, from Arctic exploration to the introduction of Christianity to how Canadian justice was applied in the specific context of Inuit populations, changed Inuit life in big, small, and sometimes explosive ways.
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