Inuit, crew members and tryworks on deck of whaling schooner Era, Hudson Bay, Canadian Arctic

Title supplied by cataloger. Information from original envelope identifies this as Photo 205. The schooner Era was built in 1847 at Boston, Massachusetts. She was a New London whaling vessel until her last voyage out of that port in 1892; her masters included James Monroe Buddington, John O. Spicer, and George Comer. She was wrecked off Miquelon Island, July 27, 1906. Whale blubber was melted down into oil by means of the tryworks. Taken by Captain George Comer (1858-1937), a sealer and whaling captain from East Haddam. He went to sea while still in his teens and was later master of vessels from both New London and New Bedford. Comer participated in voyages involved in polar expeditions and was noted for his studies of Arctic peoples and their environment.