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Volume CXXXIII, Number 8 |
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Bowdoin explorers sleep under rocks, fail in attempt to hunt reindeer
KATHRYN OSTROFSKY
STAFF WRITER
For Bowdoin Chemistry Professor Paul Chadbourne, the purpose of the Greenland expedition was to study climate change-he found similarities between Greenland's wildlife and Maine's fossils, suggesting that Maine's climate and ecosystems had once resembled those of the Arctic. For the college students on the schooner Nautilus the official purpose of the trip was to gain knowledge through experience. However, besides scientific research, the boys visited with the missionaries and traded with the Esquimaux.
There were twelve Danes living in Godthaab at the time, the youngest of which was Emanuel Schneider, who was but a few weeks old. His proud father, Herr Schneider, volunteered to guide the American sailors over the rocky terrain of Greenland. While the boys observed the arctic landscape, a group of Esquimaux women and children followed close behind to observe the boys. Here they "obtained some of the largest trees found in that part of Greenland. They were birches and willows measuring four or five inches in height. Their trunks were as thick as one's forefinger." The boys subsequently received a tour of the buildings of Godthaab-a church, a missionary house with the schoolroom, Dr. and Mrs. Rink's house, and a merchants' house with a store.
Chadbourne's party continued hunting and collecting samples but "Esquimaux trade was the chief attraction." "So brisk was the trade in kayaks and spears," remembered one of the men, "that the officials were alarmed lest we should leave the natives without the means of hunting." When the Esquimaux discovered the demand for their goods, they propelled their kayaks quickly though the bay to the Nautilus to present all sorts of things for trade-muffs, jumpers, shoes, boots, and dresses, to name a few.
Meanwhile, over these few days, the ice had remained so thick that the Nautilus, although in a protected spot, could not actually reach the harbor. The schooner was finally helped when the H. M. S. Bulldog, a British steamer, happened to arrive and helped the men by towed the Nautilus in its wake. The steamer was piloted by Commander Sir Leopold McClintock, "the bold Arctic navigator" who had discovered the "only reliable records" of arctic explorer Sir John Franklin's lost party. When they got to shore, a few boys from the Nautilus left the party for a few days of reindeer hunting-an expedition they hoped would end more happily than that of Franklin.
Finally at shore, the Nautilus was near enough to the town to receive visitors almost constantly. Trade between the Americans and the Esquimaux increased as did social interaction. The Williams Quarterly account of this appears to have a hint of racism-not of a malicious intent, but maybe a vision of racial inequality that shows these college boys as products of their time. One of the favorite songs of the Esquimaux happened to be "Yankee Doodle," although they modified the tune "to suit their notions of melody" and they pronounced the title "Adibididoodah." In the next paragraph of the article, the juxtaposed description of Europeans stands in stark contrast to the description of amusement in Esquimaux customs. The American boys invited the European "ladies and gentlemen" of Godthaab and New Hernbut "to a collation on board the Nautilus" to thank them for their kindness.
As their time in Greenland drew to a close, the party's already large collection of specimens was enhanced when Mrs. Rink gave the young scientists "permission to select what we chose from her husband's valuable collection of birds." The reindeer hunting party, however, did not add to the collection of specimens. Upon their return, they reported that the guide they had hired had deserted them on the first day of the hunt. They suffered little, but were unsuccessful hunters-"after sleeping two nights under the rocks, they returned to us safe and sound, leaving all the reindeer in the same condition." To leave the harbor, the Nautilus was strapped to the side of the H. M. S. Bulldog. Thus, in the fog and ice of Arctic waters, Chadbourne and company began the return trip to Maine. As they pointed the schooner toward Labrador, they looked forward to reuniting with the party of seven, including Bowdoin senior Alpheus Spring Packard, who they had left there to do scientific research during the Nautilus's stay in Greenland.
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