Joseph "Little Joe" Tuckfield
	
Little Joe Tuckfield was a boat steerer working for the Point Barrow [Nuvuk] whaler and trader, Charlie Brower. Brower outfitted Tuckfield with a whaleboat, gear and a year's supplies and he went east with an Inuvialuit crew.  They set out in July 1888 and returned in August 1889 having wintered in the Mackenzie delta and visited the Hudson's Bay post on the Peel River [Fort McPherson]. On the way back, Tuckfield identified a good harbour at Herschel Island and reported whales as thick as bees. He was three days at Point Barrow [Nuvuk] before shipping again as a pilot on the naval vessel //Thetis.//((John R. Bockstoce, //Whales, Ice & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic.// Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986: 255-59.)) 

The //USS Thetis// was in the Beaufort in 1889 to establish the position of the 141-meridian west of Greenwich and the boundary between Canada and the United States. The crew surveyed Herschel Island and sounded the harbour.((John R. Bockstoce, //Steam Whaling in the Western Arctic.// New Bedford: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1977: 28, 52.))
	
Tuckfield passed his report on to the crew of the whaler //Grampus.//  On August 12th the whalers //Lucretia, Jess H Freeman, Orca, Narwhal, Thrasher, William Lewis// and //Grampus// anchored on the east side of Herschel Island. The boats carried on to the west mouth of the Mackenzie River and then Shingle Point. A report of a shoal decided all but //Orca// and //Thrasher// to turn back.((John R. Bockstoce, //Whales, Ice & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic.// Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986: 255-59.))

The //Beluga// and //USS Thetis// headed east and later found the //Thraser///and //Orca// in harbour at Herschel. Captain Stockton, on the //Thetis,// named the harbour Pauline Cove in honour of his wife. The //Thetis// sailed back to Point Barrow [Nuvuk] and reported no whales which caused most to consider Tuckfield a fraud. The //Orca// and //Thrasher// returned to Barrow in the fall with reports of whales and a catch of two apiece. The captains reported that the whales were staying close to Herschel. Tuckfield was redeemed.((John R. Bockstoce, //Whales, Ice & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic.// Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986: 255-59.))
	
The influx of whalers caused great harm to the Inuvialuit where disease reduced the population from 2,000 to 250 people.((Brian Gibson, “Hear the Inuvialuit whale after first foreign contact.” Review of History Television, //Worlds Collide: The Saga of Herschel Island.// Documentary film directed by Tom Radford. 27 April 2006. Vueweekly, 2019 website: https://www.vueweekly.com/hear_the_inuvialuit_whale_after_first_foreign_contact/))