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.1)
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.2)
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.3)
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.4)
The influx of whalers caused great harm to the Inuvialuit where disease reduced the population from 2,000 to 250 people.5)