The American Discovery of Europe

6. The Inuit Route to Europe

6. The Inuit Route to Europe The dutch community of Zierikzee has had a tradition that in 849 ce one Zierik arrived by sea to found the city. The local people also have believed for some time that he arrived in an Inuit kayak fromGreenland,akayaklongondisplayintheCommunityMuseum.This tradition was in existence as early as the seventeenth century, when an author stated that he no longer believed the story. By the eighteenth century Zierik’s alleged kayak was already hanging in place, although current opinion is that the kayak only dates from that same century. Nonetheless, it is a genuine West Greenland kayak.1 The Zierik story seems to be the first in a long series of incidents involving Inuit visits to Europe or the finding of alleged Inuit harpoon heads in Scotland and Ireland. It is a very compelling subject, because of its inherently interesting, romantic, and also tragic elements, and also because of serious questions about whether northeasternAmerican boats, whether of the Beothuk-Newfoundland, umiak, or kayak types, were capable of remaining afloat for a long enough period to reach Iceland, the Faeroes, and other islands of Europe. Before dealing with this question, however, we should note that the advocates of St. Brendan’s alleged voyages westward from Ireland have never seemed to have any doubts about the ability of Irish curraghs covered with hides to remain at sea for long periods. Similarly, E. F. Greenman and other anthropologists who have advocated ancient European voyages to America seem to believe that skin-covered craft could make the trip even in the virtually impossible east-to-west direction (possibly drying out the craft on convenient ice floes).2 134 v The American Discovery of Europe But first, I would like to suggest that the widespread reports of the existence of “mer-men” and “mer-women” (sea-men or sea-women) in northwestern Europe be considered as possible evidence of early Inuit or other American arrivals. Early descriptions of Inuits in their kayaks seem to suggest the appearance of a “fish-man” or a “finn-man” because the navigator is enclosed in skins that are actually part of the craft, and sailor and craft would appear to viewers to be one and the same. In addiThe East Greenland Coast, September 1987, showing the mouth of a glacier and numerous ice floes. Photograph by Jack D. Forbes. An ice river reaching the sea on the East Greenland coast, September 14, 1985. Photograph by Jack D. Forbes. Where a river of ice meets the sea. East Greenland, September 14, 1985. Photograph by Jack D. Forbes. 136 v The American Discovery of Europe tion, Inuit navigators were capable of great feats of seamanship, including turning the craft upside down, apparently. Thus, for practical purposes, sailor and kayak were a single sea-creature.3 There are many mer-person stories. For example, in 1187 it is recorded that a “man-fish” was kept for six months in Orforde Castle in Suffolk, England. Radulphus de Coggeshale wrote: “In the time of King Henry I . . . the fishermen took in their nets a wild man, having the human shape complete, with hair on his head, a long and picked beard, and a great deal of shaggy hair on his breats; but he stole away to sea privately, and was never seen afterwards.”4 In 1430 after a storm an alleged “wild woman” Inner fiords on the East Greenland coast, September 14, 1985. Photograph by Jack D. Forbes. The Inuit Route to Europe v 137 came through a dike near Edam, Holland, and lived for many years in Haarlem. She reportedly learned to spin but never learned to speak the local language. The woman (called a “nimphe” or “Féme marine”) was rescued by some young women of Edam who were passing by Purmerend in a boat. The woman eventually returned to her “first and natural element.”5 Erich Pontopiddan, in 1751, makes reference to many examples of “mermen ” seen by Norwegians as well as to several seen on the coast of Iceland, as reported earlier by the historianTorfaeus.The details are too meager, however, to determine if these “mer-men” were Inuits in their kayaks.6 In the early part of the 1500s, probably between 1517 and 1537, or in 1535 as one source asserts, a “sea-man” was captured along the North Sea coast of Yorkshire at the little village of Skengrave (Skinningrave). An “ancient...