IPY 1882-3: The German Station in Cumberland Sound Part 3″

Taissumani: 2007-06-08

By Kenn Harper

(Continued from last week. Last week's article told about the routine of life at the research station, and the work of the Inuk, Okkeituk.)

The visitors that the Germans received at their isolated station were not all Inuit. In March, a German named Scherden, mate and carpenter of an American whaling schooner, the Lizzie P. Simmonds, arrived for a visit, a social call on his countrymen, as he explained it. Sandy Hall, from Jimmy Mutch's Scottish station, also stopped by while on a hunting trip.

In late July, with the ice opened up, the Lizzie P. Simmonds itself arrived in the bay and six men came ashore for a visit. They were its captain, John Roach, accompanied by his Inuit wife; Scherden; and four crew members – a German, a Spaniard, an Australian, and a Polynesian (or Kanaka as they were called in the whaling trade). Roach had come to hunt beluga, which calved in Millet Bay each spring, but southwesterly winds jammed the fiord's mouth with ice and prevented his ship's return to Kekerten.

By early September, the Germans were worried about the ice conditions, fearing that the Germania would be unable to make it to the station to pick them up and take them back home. Early that month, H. Abbes, mathematician and physicist, traveling with two other men from the station on an ice-reconnaissance trip by small boat, found the Lizzie P. Simmonds still stuck firmly in the ice at the mouth of the fiord.

Roach told them that if the ice did not soon clear, he would leave his ship at anchor and return to Kekerten by a smaller boat. He offered to take some of the Germans with him, but suggested that the rest of them "marry" Inuit women and settle down for another winter. Instead of leaving for Kekerten, though, Roach moved his ship farther back into the fiord, the only direction he could go, and anchored again at Sirmilik Bay.

Spending another winter was not an appealing thought. There had been dissension among the scientists, probably inevitable among so many men living in close quarters far from home. Three of the scientists had rebelled and were no longer taking part in the scientific program.

Unknown to the scientists, the Germania itself had been unable to enter Cumberland Sound for a month, blocked by ice from July 15 until Aug. 15. She had finally reached Kekerten on August 28 but, with the head of the sound still blocked solidly, there was no hope of her reaching Sirmilik Bay.

Just as the Germans were beginning to feel that another winter might be inevitable, two small boats were seen approaching the station. One was Roach's; the other a boat manned by Inuit. Imagine the surprise and relief of Dr Giese, the station leader, when a man stepped forward from the second boat and greeted him in his own language with, "Greetings from the Germania."

The man was the young anthropologist, Franz Boas, who had arrived on the Germania to begin a year of study in Cumberland Sound. He informed Giese that the ship had reached Kekerten and would wait there for the scientists.

Roach agreed to transport all of the Germans' supplies to Kekerten for a fee of fifty-five pounds. Then began a scramble to close down the station and load everything aboard the little schooner. The last observations were made on Sept. 9, concluding a series of readings that had lasted unbroken for 359 days.

A strong wind from the northwest had cleared the ice from the mouth of the fiord, and the Lizzie P. Simmonds left Sirmilik Bay on September 12. The next morning, she reached Kekerten where the Germania lay at anchor. Four days later the German ship left Kekerten for the return voyage to Hamburg. The expedition had been a success.

The wooden buildings at Sirmilik Bay have long ago been dismantled, the wood used for Inuit homes in the nearby camps. Outlines of the foundation of the main building can still be seen and some of the octagonal pillars brought from Germany still lie on the flat plain where the station once stood.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.

Share This Story

(0) Comments