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Nivisinaaq (Shoofly)

Nivisinaaq (Shoofly) with a companion, Southampton Island, Hudson Bay, Nunavut 125 Ko Nivisinaaq (Shoofly) with a companion, Southampton Island, Hudson Bay, Nunavut

Several women were hired on the ships as cooks and housekeepers. They also provided the captains and their teams with the appropriate clothing for the long winter months. Nivisinaaq, also known as Shoofly, is probably one of the most famous, since she and her son Ullanaq (John Ell) often accompanied Captain Comer on his trips in the Bay. Captain Comer, as well as other qallunaat who passed through, also took many photographs of Nivisinaaq. Eber relates that:

With the passage of time Inuit families have forgotten some of the whaling names of their parents and grandparents. But no one had forgotten that Shoofly was the whaling name of Nivisinaaq, Captain Comer's close companion and, perhaps because so many Qallunaat took her picture, the most famous of all the Inuit women whose relations with Qallunaat men could be both warm and enduring (Eber 1989 : 114)

Comer gave her the name Shoofly inspired by a song that was popular during the US Civil War, Shew Fly, Don't Bother Me. According to her grandson, whose account was collected by Eber, [Comer] gave her that name because she was always shooing away the flies (Eber 1989 : 114). Her closeness to Captain Comer sparked discussion, and still does. For some, they were like spouses, whereas according to others, they were merely friends. Some individuals even went so far as to insinuate that Captain Comer was the father of Nivisinaaq's only biological son, but Ullanaq's daughter does not see it that way, "Yes, my grandmother had a captain friend", she [Okpik] said. In fact, she had pictures of the captain and used to receive presents of clothes and cheques. But it was after John Ell was born that Angakkuq was living with Shoofly. "My grandmother could bear no more children. She had to adopt them. John Ell had no Qallunaaq blood. He was true Inuit" (Eber 1989 : 115). Nivisinaaq died on Southampton Island in the 1930s, of illness and old age (Eber 1985 : 114).