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Angutimmarik (Scotch Tom)
Angutimmarik, also known as Scotch Tom, worked for many years as right hand man to the Scottish captain John Murray. He was one of the three Inuit from the northwest coast of Hudson Bay who accompanied the Murray brothers on Southampton Island/Salliq for the opening of the Robert Kinnes& Sons Ltd (Dundee) whaling station in 1899. Here are the words of Joe Curley (Kayakjuaq) regarding his adoptive father, as told to Eber:
My father was the captain's man. In those days the Scotch and the Americans had their Inuit leaders, and my father Scotch Tom, my uncle who adopted me – his Inuit name was Angutimmarik – was the man for the Scottish people. That was the tradition in the past. The whalers would pick a person as chief, and he would become the most powerful person. When Angutimmarik was a very young man, when the Scots first started visiting the different camps up here, they took him to work for them because he was a good hunter and a reliable man. (Eber 1989: 108)
Angutimmarik was not only an excellent hunter, but he was also known for his shamanic powers. According to the accounts collected by Eber, Angutimmarik is remembered as a great shaman who may have helped out quite a bit in bringing the whales. "The shamans knew where the whales were" (Eber 1989: 37). According to his adoptive son, Joe Curley (Kayakjuaq), the Scottish were known to have less merchandise than the Americans; they were not able to give as much to their employees. Regardless, Angutimmarik had his own fishing boat and several weapons, and, even after the whalers' definitive departure, he continued to receive packages from John Murray. After the whalers left, Angutimmarik shared the rest of his life with Nivisinaaq, who had been a widow since 1905. Finally, Angutimmarik died on Southampton Island in the 1940s, approximately ten years after the death of Nivisinaaq.