Joseph Henrich

They made kayaks there.

To them, there was just a lot of resources there.

But to Franklin's men, it was this barren expanse and it seemed impossible to survive there.

Yeah, that was led by an explorer named Ross.

And I think it's a great example because we can compare the explorers that did well on King William's Island with what happened to the Franklin expedition.

And the main difference is in how they interacted with the Inuit.

So the Ross expedition begins to open up trade relationships with the Inuit.

They're able to get all kinds of clothing and food.

And so they're just able to survive much more easily by taking advantage of the vast knowledge of the Inuit.

They travel and explore through their new allies and new friends with the Inuit.

Yeah, I mean, the amount of insight and knowledge and skill that the Inuit have to survive in this environment is really incredible.

So one thing that the Inuit routinely did during this period was they would be able to hunt seals.

And so you had to figure out where the seals are going to be.

And it had to be an area that was covered with snow so you couldn't hear your feet and

You had to create the hole in the ice.

You had to know or you would find the holes and you would see if they were actively used by seals.

And then you would use a spear to wait there until you got a sense that the seal was there.

And they had little feather markers that would tell you if the seal was there.

And then you would plunge your harpoon into the hole.

You needed a special bare bone handle because you needed some really strong holes.