Tatannuaq

Tatannuaq (, ; – early 1834), also known as Tattannoeuck or Augustus, was an Inuk interpreter for two of John Franklin's Arctic expeditions. Originally from a group of Inuit living north of Churchill, Rupert's Land, he found employment as an interpreter at the Hudson's Bay Company trading post in Churchill, becoming proficient in English and Cree.

Following a significant delay due to staying with family away from Churchill, he was hired as one of two Inuit interpreters accompanying John Franklin's disastrous 1819–1822 Coppermine expedition, plagued by starvation and the death of the majority of the expedition party on the return journey. He accompanied Franklin on the 1825–1827 Mackenzie River expedition, where he served a diplomatic role and dissuaded Inuit attacks on the expedition. After several years of interpreter service at the Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Chimo, he departed to the interior in an attempt to assist in locating John Ross's expedition, but perished in bad weather a short distance outside Fort Resolution in early 1834.

Early life

Tatannuaq was born to an Inuit family in the 1790s, about north of Churchill in what is now the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, then part of the loosely administered Rupert's Land territory. His name loosely translates to "the belly" or "it is full" in Inuktitut. He had at least one brother. His group regularly travelled by sleigh to Churchill in the spring, but wintered along the Hudson Bay coast in igloos, travelling inland in the summer to hunt caribou and muskoxen. Prior to the spring thaws, they would hunt seal along the coast. Although his band would frequently trade with other Inuit groups further north, Tatannuaq stated that before his interpreter service he had only been as far north as Marble Island, in the vicinity of Rankin Inlet, around north of Churchill.

In 1812, he was hired to work at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post at Churchill. Learning English and Cree, he began work as an interpreter for the company, where he assumed the English name of Augustus. He was described by European explorers as a proficient writer, and would frequently write as a hobby. Leaving the post briefly in 1814, he returned to work for the winter of 1815, then returned to Inuit lands the following year. In 1818, he married a woman of unknown name. The couple had three sons.

Coppermine expedition

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Admiralty placed great emphasis on the discovery of a hypothetical Northwest Passage, supposedly offering a viable sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Following an abortive 1818 expedition to Svalbard, Royal Navy officer John Franklin was appointed to travel overland from the North American mainland to explore the Arctic coastline, hoping to meet with a concurrent naval expedition by William Edward Parry intending to traverse Lancaster Sound.
Franklin attempted to hire one or two Inuit interpreters for the expedition, but encountered difficulties and delays due to a lack of suitable candidates at Churchill or Cumberland House. A clerk at York Factory, tasked to hire interpreters, wrote in December 1819 that it would not be possible to find a suitable guide in time for the expedition's departure from its wintering grounds at Fort Enterprise the following year. Franklin's party gathered at the North West Company (NWC) post of Fort Providence in early August 1820 and met with Akaitcho, chief of the Yellowknives, who warned of possible Inuit hostilities during the journey.

Coppermine service

Tatannuaq, still in Inuit territory, was eventually contacted and hired as an interpreter for the expedition. On June 30, 1820, alongside another Inuk interpreter named Hoeootoerock, he arrived at York Factory. The two arrived at Norway House by August 14, reaching Cumberland House nine days later. From Cumberland House, they joined a large party departing towards Fort Chipewyan. Departing from the fort on October 1 alongside a fur brigade headed to Fort Resolution, they reached Great Slave Lake a week later. Although Hudson's Bay Company trader Robert McVicar attempted to negotiate the interpreters' passage to Fort Providence aboard a NWC canoe, the vessel was unable to take additional weight, and the interpreters were forced to camp amidst winter weather by the HBC post at Moose Deer Island, near Fort Resolution. The two built an igloo on the island, and in December were found by NWC representative Willard Wentzel and fellow interpreter Pierre St. Germain, who escorted them to the expedition. They arrived at Franklin's post at Fort Enterprise on January 25.

Upon arriving at Fort Enterprise, Franklin attempted to discern the abilities of the two interpreters by comparing their speech to a Inuttitut (an Inuit dialect from northern Labrador) gospel. Presented with regional maps, Tatannuaq was able to recognize geographical features he had not visited, such as Chesterfield Inlet, and described various Inuit groups. Tatannuaq explained igloo construction to Franklin, who detailed the process meticulously in his diaries. Both Tatannuaq and Hoeootoerock came to be regarded as helpful and good-spirited interpreters by the expedition party.

Franklin's party, departing from Fort Enterprise in June 1821, was the first British mission to descend the Coppermine River since Samuel Hearne's expedition in the early 1770s, which had allegedly led to the mass killing of Inuit at Bloody Falls. Reaching the falls on June 13, 1821, Tatannuaq and Hoeootoerock were sent ahead of the party to attempt contact with local people. The two briefly made contact with a group of Inuit camped along the river, but the news of a visiting British expedition prompted the group to flee the area. After informing Franklin of the presence of local Inuit, Tatannuaq set out again the following day to meet with them. A brief encounter with a small group kayaking along the river was interrupted by arrival of Franklin and the Yellowknife scouts, causing the Inuit to once again flee.

Tatannuaq and Hoeooterock again set out, crossing the Coppermine River and encountering an elderly Inuk man named Terregannoeuck or White Fox, who at first attempted to fight the interpreters. Tatannuaq was able to calm the man, who talked with Franklin's party after receiving various gifts. Delighted by news that Akaitcho's Yellowknives wished to make peace with the Inuit, he agreed to meet with Akaitcho. Although Akaitcho was also able to calm an agitated Terregannoeuck, nothing came of their meeting. Tatannuaq returned the following day with gifts for Terregannoeuck and his wife, attempting to learn the local geography, but received little information. Terregannoeuck offered one of his daughters as a wife to Tatannuaq, who declined.

The party advanced to the mouth of the river and turned east. From July to August, they charted of the Arctic coastline, but were forced to halt at Point Turnagain on Kiillinnguyaq (Kent Peninsula) on August 18.

Return

The return journey to Fort Enterprise saw the death of the majority of the expedition. Supply shortages, exasperated by the HBC-NWC rivalry, continuously plagued the expedition. Many voyageurs died of starvation or exhaustion, and one Iroquois scout, Michel Terohaute, was executed on suspicion of cannibalism.

Hoeootoerock went missing following a hunting trip, carrying vital supplies including knives and ammunition. Tatannuaq began a search, but Hoeootoerock was never found, having either died in the harsh environment or deserted the party. Irritated by the party's slow progress on the return journey, Tatannuaq proceeded ahead, but became lost in the unfamiliar terrain. Initially thought dead by the party, he eventually arrived at Fort Enterprise and reunited with the surviving members. Famished and weakened from hunger, the party resorts to eating leather, maggots, and rock tripe. Alongside voyageur Joseph Benoit, he reached the Yellowknives chief Akaitcho's camp on November 3, after a two-week journey, to request aid for the other members of the group. After they were joined by other expedition members requesting aid, two small relief parties were sent to Fort Enterprise carrying meat, arriving on November 7 and 15. The expedition party departed, reaching Fort Providence on December 11, before proceeding to Fort Chipewyan over the following weeks. After recuperating at Fort Chipewyan for several months, the expedition party finally departed to Norway House, reaching the post on June 2, 1822, before disbanding. Tatannuaq was one of only nine survivors of the twenty who began the expedition.

Tatannuaq returned to Fort Churchill in the summer of 1822. While at Fort Churchill, he learned that his wife had been married by a brother of Hoeootoerock, who had later killed himself, fearing retaliation. Tatannuaq was warned that one of Hoeootoerock's brothers sought to take revenge on him for this. In August, Tatannuaq met Anglican missionary John West, the first non- Moravian missionary to preach to Inuit. During West's 1822 and 1823 visits to Churchill and York Factory, Tatannuaq served as his interpreter and converted to Christianity. He returned north to reunite with his family alongside a group of Inuit who had come to see West.

Mackenzie River expedition

After visiting his family, Tatannuaq was hired as an interpreter for another expedition headed by Franklin, the Mackenzie River expedition, in the spring of 1825. He departed from York Factory on June 25. Alongside Ooglibuck, another Inuk interpreter, he set out on foot from Churchill to Cumberland House. They joined an advance party alongside various carpenters and boatmen. Franklin's party, having departed from Penetanguishene on Lake Huron, caught up to this group in late June. They walked the Methye Portage, linking the Churchill River basin to the Athabasca. Franklin, accompanied by Tatannuaq, led a small scouting party down the Mackenzie as others made preparations for winter. The group encountered a band of Dene who prepared to fight, but were calmed and surprised by Tatannuaq's presence. Franklin wrote that Tatannuaq reacted modestly to the great interest and admiration of the Dene, who were fascinated by the great distance the Inuk had travelled.

Inuit raid and negotiation

The expedition wintered at a post they named Fort Franklin, on the western shore of the Great Bear Lake. Descending down the Great Bear and Mackenzie rivers in the summer of 1826, the group split in two at the Mackenzie Delta, with Tatannuaq accompanying Franklin's western party of sixteen men. On July 7, they encountered a large group of several hundred Inuit, who pillaged the party's boats despite Tatannuaq's repeated pleas. George Back was able to recover his firearms and shot at the Inuit, causing them to retreat.

Soon after, the expedition encountered a group of eight Inuit who approached them in shallow water off the Arctic coast, requesting to speak with Tatannuaq. Franklin, initially disapproving, eventually allowed him to go to shore unarmed. Tatannuaq spoke to a group of around forty Inuit, scolding them for the raid on the expedition, and threatened that he would have shot and killed them if they had killed any of the Europeans. The Inuit were said to have expressed remorse for the raid, and the party was able to continue without further incident, beyond firing a warning shot at an allegedly hostile group on the return journey. The party disbanded upon returning to Norway House in June 1827, with Tatannuaq reportedly weeping at the end of the expedition.

Later life and death

From 1827 to 1830 Tatannuaq continued to work for the HBC at Churchill, but would at times make the journey north to visit his family. Aboard the brig ''Montcalm'', he began work as an interpreter at the newly-founded HBC post of Fort Chimo (Kuujjuaq) on Ungava Bay (now part of Quebec) in September 1830. Alongside Ooglibuck, he worked there as an interpreter under trader Nicol Finlayson until 1833.

In 1833, he learned that George Back was mounting a search for John Ross's second Arctic expedition, presumed lost, and hurried to join. He possibly arrived at York Factory in September 1833. He proceed to Churchill, where, despite an injured leg, he travelled the on foot through the winter weather to Fort Resolution, possibly accompanying the post's messenger. Arriving at the post in mid-February 1834, he learned that Back had advanced to Fort Reliance. Alongside a Canadian voyageur and an Iroquois scout, Tatannuaq departed to Fort Reliance. When the party became lost, his two companions abandoned him to return to Fort Resolution, and Tatannuaq was stuck in bad weather around from the fort, with his body later found at Jean River (Rivière à Jean). Back did not locate Ross, and later learned that Ross had safely returned to England in early 1834.

Legacy

Following Tatannuaq's death, Back and George Simpson wrote fondly of his service and character, mourning his death. Finlayson eulogized him less favourably, describing him as a good interpreter but a "bad hunter" and "drunken sot." The butterfly species ''Callophrys augustinus'' (brown elfin), first collected by John Richardson in 1827, was named for Tatannuaq. Augustus Lake, a small lake near Great Bear Lake, was also named for him.

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1790s births
1834 deaths
19th-century indigenous writers of the Americas
Inuit from Nunavut
Interpreters
Inuit writers
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