Tatannuaq was born to an Inuit family in the 1790s, about 200 miles (320 km) north of Churchill in what is now the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, then part of the loosely administered Rupert's Land territory.

[3] 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.

[9][10] 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.

[11] 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.

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.

Presented with regional maps, Tatannuaq was able to recognize geographical features he had not visited, such as Chesterfield Inlet, and described various Inuit bands.

[6]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.

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.

[3][16] Tatannuaq and Hoeooterock again set out, crossing the river and encountering an elderly Inuk man named Terregannoeuck or White Fox, who at first attempted to fight the interpreters.

Tatannuaq returned the following day with gifts for Terragannoeuck and his wife, attempting to learn the local geography, but received little information.

[3][20] Alongside voyageur Joseph Benoit, he reached the Yellowknife 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,[21][22] arriving on November 7th and 15th.

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.

[26] 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.

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.

Aboard the brig Montcalm, he began work as an interpreter at the newly-founded HBC post of Fort Chimo on Ungava Bay (now part of Quebec) in September 1830.

[3][21] 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 proceed to Churchill, where, despite an injured leg, he traveled the 1,200 miles (1,900 km) on foot through the winter weather to Fort Resolution, possibly accompanying the post's messenger.