When the Whalers Were Up North: Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic

by Dorothy Harley Eber (Editor)

The author tells a story drawn from oral memories, a story which will soon disappear with the last Inuit generation to have seen the whalers. Illuminated by a remarkable collection of drawings, photographs, and illustrations, many in full colour, tales are told of when the whalers first appeared on the north-east coast of Baffin Island, how they set up land stations in the whale-rich waters of Cumberland Sound, and how they eventually pushed on into Hudson Bay. During this time the Inuit not only fed and clothed the whalers, they hunted with them, adding to the whalers' wealth. Our understanding of change in Inuit life is often linked to the fur traders, who arrived in the North fifty years after the arrival of the whalers. In truth it is the Inuit's close contact with the foreign world of the whalers which marked the beginning of a change in previously undisturbed Inuit culture and traditions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous

216 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Erika Westman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so grateful that there are people like Dorothy Harley Eber here to collect rare oral histories, and all the elders who shared their stories about their memories of the whalers who lived in and traveled through the Arctic. This collection includes some fantastic old photos of Inuit whalers and their families, who worked with Scottish and American whalers during the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The history is brought to life and into the present with the memories of those who were young during the last days of industrial scale whaling.

Some insights that enlightened my understanding of the north: the Inuit families and white whalers and traders often had fun together, worked well together, treated each other as equals. These working relationships spanned a hundred years -- many generations -- and often grew into personal, romantic, family relationships.

[JL Salty · Rating 5 out of 5]

rating: pg for MILD, occasional profanity. no violence. sex: mention of sharing wives as a cultural observation
recommend: non-fiction, cross-cultural readers

This was a fascinating telling of a lost culture. I listened to the audiobook - with all the photography and art that was described, I suspect it would be better "in person," the art would add to the story, to deepen it.
I was SHOCKED to realize how recently the whaling culture died out. In my mind, it is a VERY OLD long time ago historical event. This story brought it much more into focus.

[Beth]

I’m going to forgo the rating for this book as I received the audio version and having someone say the word endnote and describing pictures and illustrations was not nearly as rewarding as I would assume the actual book was.

[em sky-walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, im so glad people are doing work like this.