Taissumanni: John Sakeouse and the Polar Inuit

KENN HARPER

(Continued from last week)

On Aug. 9, 1818, near Cape York, the crew of the Isabella were surprised to see several men on the ice, and thought they were hailing the ship. At first they took them to be shipwrecked whalers, but on coming closer to the ice they discovered that they were Inuit travelling on dog-sleds. When the ship tacked they shouted in unison and fled landwards on their sleds.

On the following day, eight sleds approached the ship, stopping about a mile distant on the ice. John Sakeouse, ­carrying a white flag and some presents, set off over the ice. Thus it was that the first meeting between Europeans and the isolated Polar Inuit was also the first recorded meeting between the Inuit of northwestern Greenland and a Kalaaleq (a West Greenlander), the latter being outfitted in European clothing, wearing a felt hat and with his arm in a sling! (He had broken his collarbone on the trip north.)

After some wariness on the part of the Inuit, and considerable bravery on Sakeouse’s part, they discovered that they could understand each other’s dialects, although with some difficulty.

The Inuit were fascinated and frightened by the ships. They asked what great creatures they were. “Do they come from the sun or the moon?” they asked Sakeouse. “Do they give us light by night or by day?” Sakeouse explained that the ships were “houses made of wood,” but the Inuit would not believe him. They had seen the ships under sail and responded, “No, they are alive, we have seen them move their wings.”

John Ross and other officers joined Sakeouse on the ice. Finally, five Inuit men were convinced to visit the ship. They were astonished by everything they saw, but especially by the quantities of wood. In a land where even driftwood was scarce, any scrap of wood was a precious commodity. They left the ship with pieces of wood, gifts of clothing, and biscuits.

Two days later, three new Inuit visited the ship. The next day, 10 men arrived, some from the previous parties and some new faces. Wanting more and more gifts they refused to leave. A crew member gave a loud blast on the ship’s trumpet, but the Inuit were unfazed. Finally Sakeouse told them that the trumpeter was a shaman who would soon blow away all the ice between the ship and the shore if they did not depart at once. This ploy succeeded, and the Inuit quickly left.

Ross, a Scot, named these Inuit, never seen by white men before, the Arctic Highlanders. Later explorers made them famous as the “Polar Eskimos.” Their own name for themselves was simply “Inuit,” and in recent years they have been known as the Inughuit.

When the exploring party returned to England, Sakeouse was of “great interest” in London, and some feared that “the poor fellow’s head would be turned” or that he would fall into bad company. But he soon tired of London and returned to Edinburgh. Plans were made for him to accompany William Edward Parry’s expedition in search of a Northwest Passage the following year. But it was not to be.

Early in 1819, Sakeouse took ill. His friends, Captain Newton and family, nursed him through his illness and he made a brief recovery. Then, after a sudden relapse, he died on the evening of Sunday, Feb. 14. Reportedly, he held a Greenlandic language catechism in his hands until his strength failed him and it slipped from his grasp just before his death.

Blackwoods Magazine reported that he had a large funeral. “He was followed to the grave,” it said, “by a numerous company, among whom were not only his old friends and patrons from Leith, but many gentlemen of high respectability in this city.”

Perhaps it’s only fair to let the much-maligned John Ross, who was responsible for much of Sakeouse’s fame, have the last word on the man. “He is indeed a most valuable man,” Ross wrote. “Very intelligent and willing to learn as well as being grateful to those who instruct him. A man on whom the utmost dependence may be placed.”

Taissumani: A Day in Arctic History 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.