George Comer

Infobox Person
name = George Comer


image_size = 200px
caption = Capt. George Comer
birth_name =
birth_date = April, 1858
birth_place = Quebec City
death_date = 1937
death_place = East Haddam, Connecticut
death_cause =
resting_place =
resting_place_coordinates =
residence = East Haddam
nationality = American
other_names = "Angakkuq" ("the shaman")
known_for = Polar explorer
education =
employer =
occupation = Whaler
home_town =
title = Captain
salary =
networth =
height =
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term =
predecessor =
successor =
party =
boards =
religion =
spouse = Julia Chipman Comer
partner =
children = Nellie, Thomas, Laurent Pameolik, John Ell(?)
parents =
relatives =


website =
footnotes = Captain George Comer (April 1858 – 1937) was considered the most famous American whaling captain of Hudson Bay, [cite web |url=http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~agraham/nost202/nunavut-history-harper5.html |title=Nunavut History, Keewatin Region |author=Harper, Kenn |publisher=yukoncollege.yk.ca |accessdate=2008-03-30] and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit in the early 20th century. [cite web |url=http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=FA7646DA-65B8-D398-7BA57ED9024A4BAD |title=Frozen in: Capt. Comer and the Hudson Bay Inuit |publisher=mysticseaport.org |accessdate=2008-03-30]

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.cite web |url=http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/stem204.html |title=The Papers of George Comer in the Dartmouth College Library |publisher=Dartmouth College |date=January 1986 |accessdate=2008-03-30] Comer's circle of friends and colleagues included other notable explorers of the time, such as Robert Peary and Capt. Frederick Cook,cite web |url=http://www.mysticseaport.org/Library/manuscripts/coll/coll102/coll102.html |title=Coll. 102, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. |publisher=G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport |accessdate=2008-03-30] and his mentor, Franz Boas, the "Father of American Anthropology".

Personal life

Comer was born in Quebec City, Quebec in 1858. His father was English, and his mother was Irish. The family immigrated to the United States in 1860cite web |url=http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacunithistories/radnor.htm |title=Radnor's Navigation Officer Lt. jg George Comer |publisher=freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com |accessdate=2008-03-30] and Comer grew up in East Haddam, Connecticut. He attended school for only two years.cite web |url=http://www.chesterfieldinlet.net/chester_then.htm |title=CAPTAIN GEORGE COMER of East Haddam, Connecticut (1858 - 1937) |publisher=Chesterfieldinlet.net |accessdate=2008-03-30] ] 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.cite web |url=http://www.simonpure.com/sea06.htm |title=EAST HADDAM'S CAPTAIN COMER |publisher=simonpure.com |accessdate=2008-03-30] 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. [cite web |url=http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cho&CISOPTR=16317&CISOBOX=1&REC=8 |title= Thomas Comer, son of Captain George Comer of East Haddam |publisher=Connecticut history online |date= |accessdate=2008-03-30] [cite web |url=http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cho&CISOPTR=16216&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 |title=Captain George Comer and wife Julia next to their house, East Haddam |publisher=Connecticut history online |accessdate=2008-03-30]

Arctic expeditions

Comer made the first of his Arctic voyages at age 17 on the whaler "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 SoundRoes Welcome Sound, on the "Era" (wrecked off Newfoundland in 1906) (Eber, 1989, pp. 25), and the "A. T. Gifford". [Whaling Masters, compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1938.]

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. citation |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic36-3-294.pdf |title=George Comer |last=Ross |first= W. Gillies |work=Arctic Profiles |pages=294-295 |publisher=ucalgary.ca |accessdate=2008-03-30] 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. [cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=71QGUlvx_O0C&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=%22george+comer%22+1937&source=web&ots=-v5yYq1H8N&sig=Yb6U62mgQn2_D3w5SAPDbiwPaI8&hl=en |title=America and the Sea: Treasures from the Collections of Mystic |first=Daniel |last=Finamore |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2005 |pages=74 |isbn=0300114028 |accessdate=2008-03-31]

Comer developed a bond with an Aivilik woman named Niviatsianaq (or Nivisanaaq), referred to amongst Inuit as "Shoofly Comer".cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eGXeFCkTmlgC&pg=PA290&lpg=PA290&dq=shoofly+comer&source=web&ots=4Ng3mCd6Ys&sig=Ym7-OLQ_1W77pUWAHrM_-837ZZk&hl=en |title=Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Indian-White Relations |last=Miller |first=J.R. |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |year=1989 |pages=290 |isbn=0802058035 |accessdate=2008-03-30] She was Comer's traveling companion on his ships for several years, bringing her son Oudlanak, referred to as "John Ell", [cite web |url=http://mobius.mysticseaport.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=Comer%2C+George&record=135 |title=Inuit family photo: Shoofly, John Ell, Ben, Tom Luce, Maria, Hudson Bay, ca. 1905 |publisher=mystic seaport |accessdate=2008-03-31] , who was rumored to be Comer's biological son, [(Eber, 1989, pp. 178)] with her. [cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=G49CwQpozoUC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=shoofly+comer&source=web&ots=5VKw6XpKgU&sig=oq7tZkSr15oCePLTCAcrDX0218I&hl=en#PPA111,M1 |title=When the Whalers Were Up North: Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic |author=Eber, Dorothy |pages=111-123 |location=Kingston |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0773507027 |accessdate=2008-03-30] Comer fathered at least one other child while in Hudson Bay with a Inuit woman named Ooktok, Laurent Pameolik (1911-?). Pameolik was adopted by Shoofly and the shaman Angutimarik after the death of his birth mother. [(Eber, 1989, pp. 178)]

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. [cite book |title=Ship Registers of New Bedford, Massachusetts |last=Work Projects Administration (WPA) |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1940 |publisher=The National Archives Project |location=Boston, MA |isbn=] 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 Stamford, Connecticut, 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. [cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C02EED6163EE033A25754C0A9619C946697D6CF |title=To establish Fiala Bases - Capt. Comer, who will command Arctic expedition, starts Tuesday |date=1907-07-07 |publisher=New York Times |accessdate=2008-03-30] [cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D03EEDA103EE033A25750C0A9679D946697D6CF |title=Finds a base for Fiala - Capt. Comer confident that expedition will reach the North Pole |date=1907-11-03 |publisher=New York Times |accessdate=2008-03-30] 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 North Greenland. Enroute, the "Cluett" became ice trapped for two years, giving Comer opportunity to perform archaeological excavations at Mount Dundas (Umánaq, Uummannaq or Umanak) [cite web |url=http://www.thuleforum.com/jette/greenl1-5.html |title=A SHORT HISTORY OF DUNDAS AND THE THULE DISTRICT |publisher=thuleforum.com |accessdate=2008-03-31] 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. [cite web |url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=CSk&q=With+the+aid+of+Captain+Comer%2C+of+the+Crocker+Land+Expedition%2C+a+large+kitchen-midden+was+dug+out+in+Umanaq.+At+the+bottom+of+this+was+uncovered+a+layer+of&btnG=Search |title=With the aid of Captain Comer, of the Crocker Land Expedition, a large kitchen-midden was dug out in Umanaq |accessdate=2008-03-31] [cite web |url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=In+the+Cape+York+district+the+find+from+Comer%27s+Midden+is+the+datum.+Of+the+archeology+of+the+Angmagssalik+district+of+the+southeast+absolutely+nothing+is&btnG=Search |title=In the Cape York district the find from Comer's Midden is the datum. |accessdate=2008-03-31]

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.cite web |url=http://www.chesterfieldinlet.net/history_comerlong.htm |title=The wreck of the "Finback" |first=W. O. |last=Douglas |publisher=chesterfieldinlet.net |accessdate=2008-03-30]

Antarctic expeditions

Comer visited Antarctica on several sealing voyages, including: South Georgia (October 9 1885 - February 11 1886) and Kerguelen Island (November 24 1887 - February 5 1888). [cite web |url=http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:UGX3vC_93P8J:elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v012n03/p0288-p0288.pdf+%22george+comer%22+antarctica&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=firefox-a |title=Recent literature |publisher=unm.edu |accessdate=2008-03-31]

On his third voyage, he was Second Mate on the American schooner, the "Francis Alleyn" [cite journal |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=A7Y5vXE9grIC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=%22george+comer%22+antarctica&source=web&ots=_ky8TpAhav&sig=ja1CxuCMNZpoWGz0l7Dmlnth3s4&hl=en#PPA205,M1 |title=Antarctica |author=Rubin, Jeff |location=Hawthorn, Vic. |publisher=Lonely Planet |year=1996 |pages=205 |oclc=45257370 |accessdate=2008-03-31] 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. [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Sb1IJYzXZhUC&pg=RA1-PA60&lpg=RA1-PA60&dq=%22george+Comer%22+antartica&source=web&ots=PyWGg3gGng&sig=HepQRZ8dF0IG_vZnCM-UBnBxiEw&hl=en |title=Flightless birds |author=Roots, Clive |location=Westport, Conn. |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=2006 |pages=60 |isbn=0313335451 |accessdate=2008-03-31] 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 convert|2000|ft|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." [cite journal |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/789/1/B004a06.pdf |title=Description of a new gallinule, from Gough Island |author=Allen, J.A. |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=4 |number=Art.6 |year=1892 |pages=57–58]

Ethnologist & 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 Boas. 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" (coord|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 Bay of God's Mercy, with Aivilik. Shoofly's only child, Oudlanak ("John Ell"), was the Aivilik group leader. [cite web |url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22The+delinquent+magneto+was+entrusted+to+John+Ell%2C+the+leading+figure+of+Southampton+Island+and+one+of+the+two+Eskimo+recipients+of+the+Jubilee+Medal%22&btnG=Search |title=The delinquent magneto was entrusted to John Ell, the leading figure of Southampton Island and one of the two Eskimo recipients of the Jubilee Medal, |accessdate=2008-03-31] 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. [Boston Daily Globe, Oct. 22, 1912. p. 5] 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, [cite web |url=http://www.civilization.ca/academ/articles/finck1_2e.html |title=Harry, Chief of the Aivilingmiut, 1903-04 |publisher=civilization.ca |first=Maria |last=Von Finckenstein |date=2001-09-27 |accessdate=2008-03-31] and Comer's chief Inuit shipmate while wintering at Cape Fullerton. [cite web |url=http://www.civilization.ca/tresors/art_inuit/inart26e.html |title=Playthings and curios: historic Inuit art, Captain George Comer |publisher=civilization.ca |accessdate=2008-03-30] 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. Gifford" (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

Partial bibliography

*citation |last=—— |date=1910 |name=A geographical description of Southampton Island and notes upon the Eskimo |location=New York |journal=Bulletin of the American Geographical Society |volume=42 |oclc=48622589
*cite journal |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0190-5929(1913)45%3A7%3C516%3AATCCMO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X |last=—— |date=1913 |title=Additions to Captain Comer's Map of Southampton Island |location=New York |journal=Bulletin of the American Geographical Society |volume=45 |number=7 |pages=516–518
doi=10.2307/200062 |year=1913 |issue=7
*citation |last=——. (1923). Brief communications. Notes . . . on the Natives of the Northwestern Shores of Hudson Bay. Menasha, Wis: "American Anthropologist", n.s. 23(2):243-244 |oclc=70746662

Awards and honors

* Fellow in the council of the American Geographical Society
* Named in his honor:
**Comer Strait, off Southampton Island, Nunavut
**"Gallinula comeri", flightless bird on Gough Island

ee also

References

External links

* [http://www.chesterfieldinlet.net/history_comerlong.htm The wreck of the "Finback", by W. O. Douglas]
* [http://www.oldtimeislands.org/Cleveland/article4.html "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:
** [http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cho&CISOPTR=16216&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 Comer and wife Julia, outside their East Haddam home, 1921]
** [http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cho&CISOPTR=16317&CISOBOX=1&REC=8 Thomas, Comer's son, ca. 192?]
** [http://mobius.mysticseaport.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=177622&t=objects "Harry" (Ippaktuq Tasseok/Teseuke), Chief of the Aivilingmiut, ivory artifact carver, and Comer's chief Inuit shipmate, ca. 1897-1912]

Persondata
NAME= Comer, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Comer, George
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Whaler, Polar explorer
DATE OF BIRTH= April, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH= Quebec City, Canada
DATE OF DEATH= 1937
PLACE OF DEATH=East Haddam, Connecticut, United States