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Southampton Island/Salliq
The Southampton Island/Salliq station operated between 1899 and 1903 and belonged to the Robert Kinnes and Sons Company of Dundee. John Murray started up and managed it. With the help of his brother, Alexander Murray Jr., captain of the Active, he managed to form a Scottish-Inuit team from Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay to ensure the station's annual activities were conducted.
The opening of the Southampton Island/Salliq station marked a major turning point for the island's local inhabitants. Before 1899, the Saglermiut, also called Pujait, lived in relative isolation from other Inuit and far from Hudson Bay whale hunting activities. The permanent establishment of foreigners on their territory and the whaling station's comings and goings had dramatic repercussions on their survival. According to several people, including Captain George Comer, regular contact between the Saglermiut and people from off the island (Inuit and foreign sailors) contributed to their near-extinction. When Captain Comer returned to Southampton Island/Salliq in command of the Era in the summer of 1903, he observed that dramatic situation:
Captain Comer learned from his Aivilik native that all the Saglermiut except one woman and four children had died (Era 1903-1905: 9 Aug. 1903). The survivors had been taken on the steamer Active to Repulse Bay, where the woman died before 1907, and the Aivilingmiut adopted the children. (Ross 1975: 116)