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37 Inuit, late 1920's. They are sitting outside an airplane hangar. -
Hazel Montague, widow of Sydney Montague, "Monty". Around the year 2000, when she would have been 95. -
flyleaf of Monty's book -
Monty sailed north in July, 1926, on the Bay Rupert. Here is the ship at dock. -
Written on the back - right (McMahon). Left. Syd (Monty) on the Bayrupert. July 15. 1926. Monty's hometown was Montreal so a goodbye by family and friends on board ship would have been likely. In "North to Adventure", Monty's partner for the Port Burwell assignment was Corporal Henry George Nichols, "Big Nick" (p.40). Hazel never met Nick but she did get Port Burwell notes from him in the yearly exchange of letters. How does McMahon fit in? Was he headed for a different assignment? He is not men -
McMahon is not mentioned in "North to Adventure". There are a couple of tall Mounties in later Burwell pictures about whom we will speculate. In "North to Adventure" (p.38) Monty tells about going to training in Ottawa. Hazel has several pictures of that time at the training center called "Rockcliffe". Just near the end of the training period he was given a few days leave to go to Montreal to say good-bye to his family. -
"In mid-July, and after the last member of the draft had returned to Ottawa from his farewell leave, we were aboard the special train bound for Montreal and the [S.S. Bay Rupert].., a Hudson's Bay Company ship which had just been completed and was now on her maiden voyage. (p.39) (See Bay Rupert note). -
This is the same location as McMahon and Jimmy (box-cars in the deep background). With the two Mounties are two men in suits. One is a close friend of Monty from his school days, John Rogers, at left. -
McMahon and "Jimmy" Germaine Lamontagne, a friend of the Montagues. Jimmy dated for a while Monty's brother, Harry. (147) -
M1-400 On board ship. Life-boats visible. Many people are standing, scattered along the deck. At least one is a Mountie in full dress uniform, by himself, leaning on a railing. This is the beginning of the series of leave-taking shots from Montreal. On the back in ink: Bay Rupert - July 1926. -
Monty can be seen leaning on the railing with another man in white shirt and vest a few feet away. They are in the same position in the next closeup. -
Hudson' Bay dock, Montreal, 1926 -
Taken from a ship that is pulling away from a large dock. Many people line the dock in the background. Half of a large sign on the dock is visible "...... .ay Company" (Hudson's Bay Company old logo). In the foreground, a uniformed Mountie seems to be taking a picture of the people. (291) -
On board ship, twelve sailors and one Mountie, Monty in a dress uniform and Stetson(?). There is writing almost visible on the caps of two of the sailors. Front and center beside Monty: the captain of the ship? Master Thomas Smellie.? (22-29) -
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This picture is the same group as M19a-215, on board ship with their captain(?). "Bryl" is third from left in the back. Two of the men in the front row of the previous picture are missing in this one. (19b-322) -
There are a few men who appear several times. For convenience sake, they will be given temporary names. The hope is that the curiosity of viewers may be aroused and some might even have access to further information which they will pass along to the web site. The next three pictures each contain the same young man. We will call him "Randy". The young man on the right is "Randy" They sit on a pile of thick cable on board a large ship. -
"Randy" in a suit and dress overcoat on a smaller boat. In this picture, his hair is not as much as a crew-cut as in M8-243 and M9-312 and W2-313. (See note on M8-243). (M10-251) -
On board ship. The man on the left has a uniform cap of some type and is wearing a sweater which has "M P" on it. "Randy", on the right, has a uniform of some kind. (M9-312) -
Five men, including Monty, (second from left), sitting on board ship. Two life-boats are in picture and behind them. The man in the middle will be named "Bryl" (as in Brylcream). His hair in this and other pictures seems to be slicked. He seems to be the same man in M26, and the "return trip" pictures, M34-266. (18-321) -
Eight men wearing life jackets looking at camera. They seem to be in same uniforms. Two are wearing what could be Mountie caps. Is the middle and tall one Nick? He looks much the same in W3-5. The life jackets in this picture have printing on the front: "front" and "childs". (20-309) -
In the foreground is a pensive man sitting on a rail in a Mountie's (or Air Force or sailor's) cap. A camera sits on the table in the middle ground. (M5-252 -
Native man in parka posing beside what looks like the side of an iron ore ship. Shadow of photographer smoking a pipe appears on the parka. (28-316) -
A picture of a cove, no more than ten houses appear around the cove. Smaller boats sit in the inlet. A larger transport vessel sits further out from shore. This picture is also identified as Port Burwell in Monty's book "I Lived With the Eskimos" (N1-2) -
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This diagram gives the comparative locations of the tiny settlement of Mounties and Hudson's Bay men and also the former Moravian Mission site where construction pictures were taken, available a little further on in this album. The dismantled website from which I am retrieving this material using Internet Wayback Machine is http://www.pinetreeline.org/other/other8/other8cl.html -
I was directed to the site with this map on the Pinetreeline site by Robert Eno of the Nunavut Department of Parks. He did an environmental assessment on the site in 2002. This is Killinik Island at the tip of Labrador/Quebec. You can see both the inlet where Monty lived and the Mission Cove where the Moravians had their mission until 1924(?). -
An aerial view of the cove and the former building site. Robert Eno -
Robert Eno in 2002. This view is taken from above where the 1926-28 buildings were, looking down to the cove. -
There is a west boardwalk and an east boardwalk. By the incline of one of the connecting boardwalks, visible in the next picture, I suspect that the RCMP residence is second from the top on the east boardwalk. -
One storey wooden building, picket fence and patio. Wooden sidewalk leading from camera down a slight hill to the complex. The most likely building in N4 is the one with the barely visible boardwalk coming down from the highest house in the settlement. Is there a small boardwalk just visible in the upper left and back of the house in N6, perhaps going to a latrine? -
The seat at the end of the boardwalk will be more visible in other pictures (N11 and N12). The sign on the picket fence at the far right may be in N15. (N6-287) -
The picket fence house appears in many pictures. Is there only one, or are there more than one? Two Mounties standing on the boardwalk. One is "Monty", is the other "Big Nick"? They are in dress uniform, yet they have on tall native fur boots. On picket house is a sign by one door that faintly says "RCMP". The boardwalk continues up a short rise to another white frame house. In the several pictures of the houses in the settlement, we find it hard to determine which one this might be. -
In the lower right hand corner, is impressed the words: "Dr. LM Waugh, New York City". Dr. Waugh was a doctor who was sent to the north to do a study on the culture of native women. Later, Hazel and Monty visited him and his fiancee in New York City. He also served Navy personnel in New York. He lived close to a Navy base when the Montagues visited him. (N11-315) -
Monty at the residence. -
This seat by the fence appears in several pictures. -
About ten feet from the seat is this sign. "Know Ye" A framed message on the picket fence. On one side, larger letters in two places say "Thou shalt not do no murder". On the right side (in translation) the words "Inuaktu salnoklatit". There is much other smaller font text on the printed bulletin. This may be the same sign visible on the picket fence in photo N6. (N-15) -
Monty and three other men. Can the tallest possibly be "BIG Nick" but now, with a beard? The dog is probably Peverell, adopted from a litter of a ship with the same name. It would later go to Saskatchewan after Monty married Hazel. (N-18) -
On back: September 1926 with some Hudson's Bay Company men singing the "Drinking Song". Monty is on the left. -
Two native men seem to be eating raw meat to the amusement of the native women standing off behind them. The shadow of a post from the RCMP picket fence on the porch floor. Similar post can be seen in photo N17. (N-16) -
Native women are looking on around the corner and are amused. Man is squatting and making a gesture as if to eat a piece of raw meat on a knife. He seems to be one of the men in photo N26. -
Two young native women in plaid and flannel materials. A very clear picture. Same women as in photo N21. These same two are a part of the background group in N17, N18, and N19, the pictures of eating raw meat. The can is upside down. Letters not legible. -
The two house servants in Monty's and Nick's residence were Essie and Ee-ma. "Ee-ma was destined from babyhood to be a council member. We watched the continued training which had started in her very young days for this responsibility, and she was appointed to office following arrangements for her marraige which were made known at a party of announcement to which I was bidden and which I attended" (North to Adventure p.200). Ee-ma can also be seen in photos N20, S7 and W13. (N-19) -
Ee-Ma? -
Four young native people, three girls and a boy, around a snowbank. Are the masts of the "Canadian Raider" visible over the roof in the background? Canadian Raider photos in Series R1-6. (N-23) -
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Hudson's Bay Company living quarters? The number and configuration of windows makes this most likely the highest building in the settlement, judging from other pictures. See N4. (N8-298) -
Man walking away from the camera to the entrance of a white frame house. Heat pipe in the roof above as visible in other pictures of these white frame houses. There is a wall of white rock at the side of the house. On page 108 (North to Adventure) Monty mentions the need for a rampart of shale and wood to protect their post house. Is this wall shale? A water barrel on the back of the house. (N-29) -
Might his be Peverell as a pup. Monty adopted one of a litter off a chip of the same name. -
This is taken during supply-delivery season. Might this be a visitor off the ship? -
CGS Arctic commanded by Captain JE Bernier at Port Burwell - September 1907. National Archives of Canada PA-096482. There is another picture from the Moravian archives that suggests that this site is about a mile up the cove from the RCMP/HBC set of buildings. We have pictures of much construction at this site, probably in Monty's years. Another effort by the Canadian government to assert Canadian presence in the north, in view of American and Scandinavian explorations? -
In the distance, the ship in harbour would be outside the Port Burwell buildings. -
The Moravians were in Killinek from 1904-1924. Boundary disputes between the Dominion of Newfoundland and the Dominion of Canada forced them to leave. -
At the Killinek Moravian site in winter. From Memorial University's collection of 61 photos: Labrador Inuit through Moravian eyes. http://collections.mun.ca/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/moravian&CISOPTR=26560 -
From the Moravian site can be seen a ship anchored at the Port Burwell site. -
In Chapter 24 of "North to Adventure", pp234-245, Monty tells of the arrival of the equipment to build three air bases in Hudson Strait in July of 1928. "One of these was to be at the eastern entrance of Port Burwell, and was to be known as Base A. There was to be another at the center of the south shore of Wakeham Bay, and this was to be known as Base B; and Base C was to be the name of the establishment at Nottingham Island on the western entrance to the strait" (p.234-235). -
Monty was assigned to Base A. On the SS Larch came "more men and more freight, among the last a tractor being unloaded (p.237-238). Can this be Base A? It certainly has supplies and a tractor, however, it is hard to imagine it as an airbase. -
A tractor and many barrels (supplies) outside two buildings. One man in the foreground. Two men on tractor. The picture appears to have been taken from onboard a small boat. It may be one of the boats in P7, the next picture. The foreground building is on a different angle from the 1907 picture. (P-6) -
Two masted ships are docked. Some men can be seen working near the water in the deep middle ground. At least a dozen crates are in the middle ground. A large tarpaulin covers other rectangular objects in the foreground. Large hills in the background. (P-7) -
Monty was assigned to Base A. On the SS Larch came "more men and more freight, among the last a tractor being unloaded (p.237-238). Can this be Base A? It certainly has supplies and a tractor, however, it is hard to imagine it as an airbase. -
Remains of the Moravian Church in 2002. Picture by Robert Eno, Nunavut Dept. of Parks -
Google Earth currently shows these buildings on what I presume was the site of the Moravian Mission. -
from further out....... -
....yet even further...... -
Port Burwell is at the tip of the land mass on the lower right. It is the intersection of the borders of Quebec, Labrador and Nunavut. -
Men doing construction with lumber. Lumber is positioned maybe 30 feet up a rocky hillside. Perhaps eight men standing at different levels. Pinetree Line web site comment - There appears to be a conflict in detail. On the one hand, existing detail on our web site indicates that the RCMP was at Port Burwell between 1920 and 1936. There is an article in the Port Burwell section that indicates the first RCMP arrived in 1920...... -
......This group constructed their own accommodation, and apparently resided in the remains of the Moravian Church during the construction period. If this is the case - why then would the Montague detail imply that their arrival in 1926 was the first RCMP in the area, and why would they have had to construct a new dwelling? One would assume that the original RCMP dwelling constructed in 1920 would still have been available for the Montague detachment. -
same site as P3? (P4) Monty and Nick built their first house, according to "North to Adventure". They lived in a tent while they were building. However, who built the sturdy houses of Port Burwell and when were these pictures taken? Was Monty taking some "artistic license" for dramatic effect? Could some of the men on the Bayrupert have been construction workers sent to do some building? -
Big Nick (?) in front of the picket house. -
Another picture of a wooden house. Two dogs are playing on a hill in the foreground on a snowbank looking down on the house. A walkway has been carved out of the deep snow to the entrance on the left side of the house. It is reasonable to see this house as the picket fence dwelling. But from several feet higher! Behind the building can be seen the wall of white “shale(?)” Stamped on the back: processed 20 August 1935. (N-28) -
Three native men, a native youngster and a dog by a pitched tent. Snow is on the mountain in the background but not on the ground near the tent. On the back of this photo is the stamp of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Official Photograph, RCAF #1. (T-4) -
Same tent (?) and environment as in photo T4. A native family of father, mother and child is central. Three other native men are behind and beside the central group. Visible in the background, a very tall communications pole. On the back of the photo: RCAF # and penciled in C171. More snow in this picture (T-5). This photo is named "George's River." Where is George's River? -
Georges River -
RCAF C170 -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:3001_LC_Kangiqsualujjuaq_hike.jpg. Can this be the same land formation, currently seen in Wikipedia for "George River"? -
An Inuit man leaning over with a saw on a kayak frame. RCAF stamp on the back of the photo. This stamp is the same as in previous pictures except for the additional line: Issued on Repayment. We will refer to this stamp as the "repayment stamp". Penciled in: B118. ( T-7) -
Fourteen Inuit gathered near a tent and some are continuing on the canvas cover for the kayak. RCAF #1 on the back and penciled in: C286. (T-10) -
An Inuit woman and child squatting beside a kayak frame while they attach a canvas over the frame. The edge of the tent can be seen nearby. RCAF Repayment Stamp on the back and penciled in: C352. (T-9) -
On back of photo: A stamp - Royal Canadian Air Force Official Photograph. A native man building a kayak on a rocky beach near water. White tent is pitched nearby. (T-8) -
Three native adults and a child standing in snow around a steel drum. Big smiles. A great picture. Penciled on back: A45 Graflet. Stamped on back: Royal Canadian Air Force Official Photograph. (T-16) -
A young native man with sunglasses, no parka, in a snowy landscape. He stands beside a sled resting on its side. Behind him and to his other side, two full bags and a metal can with a logo "Mobil-Oil Arctic". On back, RCAF #1, and penciled in "A43 Graflet". Is this man "Bobby" the guide to lost pilots (North to Adventure, chapter 26) and to the biology expedition of 1934? (T-15) -
On back: "Arrival at Georges River. Note we have just taken off our skin clothing. Laying on sled. The box to the right of me is the grub box". Log house in background looks like the same one in photo T3. (T-1) -
On back: "Departing from Georges River". Note the caribou clothing and coal oil can. Monty, an adult Inuit and a young Inuit looking at the camera. (T-2) -
A young boy on crutches. A cloth cap. Blurred houses in the near background. There is another picture of this youngster in Monty's book "North to Adventure". Repayment stamp on the back and penciled in: B175. (T-13) -
A nice shot of a youngster looking over his shoulder at the camera. Notice the wrist watch on the hand in the lower right. (T-14) -
Initially, there was almost legible writing on the building at the right. Subsequent analysis with a printer's loop has identified this as being a picture of the RCAF Air Base "B" at Nottingham. At the base of a low rocky hill, four frame buildings. -
A flagpole and two tents in the mid-ground. In the foreground, a large crate, some of the printed lettering: A.F. Shed 22 OT Halifax, NS HS. People and barrels near building on right. It also has intriguingly nearly legible writing on front. (T-17) -
A beluga whale is hanging from a rope outside an Air Force hangar. Part of a wing and a propeller are visible inside the hangar. Outside are 15 men, white and native. On bottom of photo: C336. On back of photo: RCAF #1m and penciled in: C336. (T-19) -
Three(?) Inuit generations sitting and posing for the camera. On the bottom of the photograph: C328. Stamped on the back: the RCAF official photograph stamp, and penciled in: C328. (T-17) -
Close-up of a white man with a pipe leaning over and shaking hands with a child who is more interested in the camera. An older lad with a harpoon stands in the close background. RCAF #1 on back, and penciled in: C203. (T-18)
About
Sydney Montague was stationed in Port Burwell, Quebec, (Killinek Island) as an RCMP constable, June, 1926 -- January, 1929. He left the force after leaving the Eastern Arctic and spent the next thirty years on a Speaker's Circuit, talking about his experiences in the Arctic. He wrote two books, ("North to Adventure" and "I Lived with the Eskimos" (language of the 1940's). (Both books are available on Isuma at Text, under "Sydney Montague RCMP.") He died in 1972. His widow, Hazel, continued to live by herself in their Los Angeles home until 2005, when she was 100 years of age. She had 401 photos in an album about Monty's training in Regina (where they first met) and about his work in Northern Saskatchewan (briefly) and in Port Burwell. These pictures are the beginning of a continuing upload.
The numbering system: the alphabetical items are arrangements in categories from Hazel Montague's album. The numerical equivalent refers to the order in which they appeared in her albums.
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