[Luther G. Holbrook—home movies] Reel 3

Date1934

AbstractView of Inuit at the wheel of the Bowdoin (perhaps the same as seen in Reel 2). Views of a tent camp with Inuit families and dogs occupying the tents on a rocky shoreline. Dogs are sitting around, skins are drying on the guy ropes of the tents. Families pose for the camera. One of the expedition scientists and a crew man hand out little gifts to the children and women. Bowdoin can be seen anchored in a cove in the background. View of a young women washing sealskin books in flowing water. The men feed the pack of dogs. Admiral MacMillan plays with the dogs. Views from above the deck as Bowdoin moves through ice floes, with crew looking over the sides, the crewman at the wheel turning the ship to guide her through the ice. In Port Burwell, on the northern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador near the Hudson Strait, around July 14, two Inuit men in sealskin jackets paddle in kayaks by the ship. View out over solid ice sheet looking toward mountainous land of the harbor. The ice sheet floated alongside, threatening to push them against the cliff. Shots of Bowdoin at rest, with men walking on the ice sheet, and the kayakers paddling on the other side. The camera records several crewmembers (including MacMillan) as they disembark from the ship as it lies alongside the ice sheet, and they use motion and still cameras to record the event. Views of the crewmembers all lined up on the deck, and one crewmember (Braley Gray?) naked, sitting in water pooled on top of the ice, which he did on a dare from other crewmembers. The ship stayed in Port Burwell for eight days, waiting for a Canadian government representative they were required to take along for their landing on the Button Islands (part of the scientific research). The representative finally came on the steamer Nascopie, which had been lost in fog for ten days in the Hudson Straits. Views of Bowdoin crew launching a dory, and rowing over to the Nascopie and a Hudson's Bay supply schooner, the Fort Garry, which had also been lost in the fog. Views of a motorized tender arriving at the Bowdoin with several men who board Bowdoin. One appears to be a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. Others are probably the Canadian government representative, and Hudson's Bay Company personnel. General greetings all around. Pans of Port Burwell with the steamer in the harbor, and views of MacMillan and the RCMP man (Sgt. Anderton from the Nascopie?) chatting with one of the scientists as the ship motors through the harbor. Views of seals swimming as the boat passes. Views of Bowdoin motoring along a mountainous, snowy shoreline. This shot may have been taken from the shore of the Button Islands as Bowdoin departed having left the scientific expedition on shore, which included Dr. Gross, four boys (including Holbrook, who must have filmed this) and a one-eyed Eskimo guide named Bobbie who was to help the party in case the Bowdoin did not return, and who provided the group with seal meat to eat. The party stayed on the island about 10 days, identifying birds and hunting game. Good long sequence of Bobbie, the Eskimo, skinning a small seal, leaving the pelt in on piece. The Bowdoin party watches. After he has detached the skin, he walks to the shore and washes the skin, then holds it up for the camera. Views of Bobbie starting to cut up the seal, first cutting back the blubber. Another view of Bowdoin coming back along the mountainous shore under power, in opposite direction. Shots of Bobbie rowing a dory toward the Bowdon, anchored near the shore. POV shots from the Bowdoin of wildlife in the water, and shorebirds sitting on ice floes.