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The Akuliak Whaling Station
The circulation of European ships in the Hudson Strait dates back to more than 300 years. Maritime traffic in the strait started as early as 1610, when Henry Hudson was the first European to explore the area on the ship Discovery. He was put in a boat by his mutinous crew and never sailed back to England. The ill-fated explorer was in search of the Northwest Passage. The next European ship to venture into these waters was most likely another British vessel, the Nonsuch, whose objective was to navigate into James Bay to trade directly with native trappers, without having to sail through the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River. After the incorporation of the Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay in 1670, Hudson's Bay Company ships navigated the Hudson Strait on an annual basis.
Because of ice conditions in the strait, ships had to navigate close to the north shore of Baffin Island:
The constriction of the central portion of the Strait and adverse winds frequently brought incoming vessels to a standstill in close pack, and accordingly it was near the Middle and Upper Savage Island, and Big Island itself, that encounters with Eskimos [sic] were most likely to occur. If a vessel was held for a time within reach of the coastal Eskimos, visits could be expected, and trade would usually occur. (Ross 1975: 25)
Thus, the most probable location for European ships to make contact and trade with the Inuit was in the vicinity of present day Kimmirut (Lake Harbour). In 1877, Captain John O. Spicer was told by Inuit that there was an abundance of whales in this area, and he wintered there close to an island called Iqaqtilik by the Inuit. Spicer in his log books always refers to Akuliak which was at the western tip of the island.
According to the late Kowjakuluk from Kimmirut, interviewed by Dorothy H. Eber, there was an abundance of whales around Akuliak. Ships from different ports wintered there to hunt whales in the early spring, and it became a very busy place. A few Inuit families joined the whalers for work or celebrations and would live in a seasonal camp there. (Eber 1989:61-67)
In 1880, C.A. Williams and Co. set up a whaling station at Akuliak, where they left permanent employees year-round. Many Inuit from both shores of the strait migrated here to trade, and many Inuit were employed as whaling crew. The station probably was abandoned in the early 1890s.
Of the many stories attached to the Akuliak stations, the most famous is probably the story of the stolen whales. In mid-July 1879, John O. Spicer sailed on the Era into Cumberland Sound and recruited an Inuk hunter known as Johnnibo and his Inuit whaling companions. They set sail for Akuliak, which was actually the birth place of Johnnibo, and which was where Johnnibo would hunt whales for Spicer at his new whaling station.
In the spring of 1880, Johnnibo and his crew got three whales. Captain Spicer arrived there late in the season, on August 25, having been blocked by ice during the summer in Fox Basin. Upon arrival he would discover that in his absence two New Bedford vessels had visited Akuliak and had stolen his precious catch. The captains of New Bedford's Abbie Bradford and the George and Mary had persuaded Johnnibo and his whaling crew that Captain Spicer's Era would not show up that season.
When Spicer returned to New London in the fall of 1880, the owners of the Era, C.A. Williams and Co., filed a law suit against the owners of the Abbie Bradford and the George and Mary. The next year Johnnibo, his wife Kimilu, and their little daughter Kallaarjuk were taken by Captain Spicer on a ship to New London to testify in the case. The case was heard in 1882, and because Johnnibo's testimony was well received by the court and by journalists, the judgement agreed with the interpretation of Spicer and C.A. Williams and Co.. Johnnibo and his family returned to the North, and for reasons that remain unclear, he was murdered by a group of Inuit in 1889. (Eber 1989: 56)