Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski
With Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, As Far As the Mackenzie River, and Cape Bathurst

An 1853 account of an 1848–51 Arctic expedition, with detailed observations of the indigenous Chukchi people.

William Hulme Hooper (Author)

9781108070836, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 March 2014

450 pages, 5 b/w illus. 5 colour illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.57 kg

In the middle of the nineteenth century, British Arctic exploration became defined by the search for the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin, who had in fact perished in desperate circumstances in 1847. As a newly qualified naval officer, William Hulme Hooper (1827–54) took part in one of the many expeditions which sought to find Franklin. Embarking in 1848, the crew of HMS Plover spent three winters in the Arctic, with tragic consequences for Hooper's health. On his return, perhaps realising time was short, he wrote this illustrated account of his travels, and saw it published the year before he died at the age of only twenty-seven. The work is of particular interest because of its detailed descriptions of the Bering Sea region, Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Especially noteworthy are the observations on the way of life of the indigenous Chukchi people, whom Hooper called 'Tuski'.

Dedication
Part I: 1. Long absence of the Erebus and Terror
2. Notices of visits to Tchutski
3. Tuski not Tchutski
4. Kaygwan
5. Welcome little stranger
6. Friends
7. Mooldooyah's hospitality
8. Journey towards East Cape
9. Woman's care
10. Way to manage natives
11. Vexatious detention
12. A Tuski feast
13. Matricide, a deed of horror
Part II: 14. Arrive in Kotzebue Sound
15. Take to whale-boats and oomiak
16. Lion reef
17. Horrible Esquimaux attack
18. Gastronomy
19. Christmas festivities
20. Leave Fort Simpson
21. Return voyage
22. New Year's Day festival
23. Running a rapid.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]