John Parker (whaling master)

The products of the whaling trade such as oil and whalebone (baleen) were essential to the British economy during this period of the Industrial Revolution and the rigours of life on board a whaleship in the Greenland fisheries produced a particularly hardy and efficient breed of sailor.

Shocked by the impoverished condition and starvation of the Inuit inhabitants of Baffin Island as compared to those of Greenland where the Danish authorities treated them humanely, providing shelter and ensuring they had the means to hunt and clothe themselves adequately, in 1847 he brought two young Inuit to Britain in order to publicise their plight, raise money for the purchase of material goods for them, enlist government support for their relief and to persuade the Moravian Church to send a missionary to the region.

[9][10][11] The Inuit, named Memiadluck and Uckaluk (a 15-year-old orphan), were husband and wife and lived in the Parker home whilst in England where they learned basic household tasks.

outlining a scheme that would alleviate the misery and destitution of the Inuit settlements worded partly as follows:- ".....Your Majesty's Memorialist has been deeply impressed, from personal observations, with their miserable lot; and with great humility ventures to suggest that the most effectual method of securing their permanent benefit will be to colonise the western side of Davis' Straits, – making Hogarth Sound (Cumberland Sound) the principal stations, – in the manner which has for many years been adopted by the Danish Government on the eastern side, where the natives are comparatively happy and where there is no risk of their being subjected to the horrible calamities which those on the western coast have continually to endure..." Unfortunately his appeal fell on deaf ears in the Colonial Office, therefore little was achieved in that direction.

[17][18] In 1845 Sir John Franklin led an expedition to try to find the North West Passage, but nothing was seen or heard from him or his ships after they left the coast of Baffin Island.

Unfortunately the thickness of the ice prevented anyone, including Captain Parker, from getting through to investigate the truth of the matter; however, he was able to land a cask of preserved meat and thirty bags of coal sent out by Lady Franklin at Cape Hay on the south shore of Lancaster Sound.