Ghost of Haslar: The Arctic Inuit Fish-Hook Maker
Play this short film or read the story below.
It was freezing as I hammered this iron nail and tooth together.
I lived in the icy vast expanse of the Arctic at the northern most tip of the American continent.
We were very used to living in this cold world where we hunted for seal and fish to give us food.
When strangers in large ships began arriving in our world, they gave us new materials we could use.
We loved the iron nails they gave us in return for food and objects. I could make this great fish-hook from our walrus tooth and their iron nail. Brilliant!
These strangers never looked comfortable in our world though –
You felt that living in the Arctic was the worst time of their life, especially when their ships were iced in that winter of 1846.
Eventually I traded my fish-hook. When I was alive, I didn’t know where it went. As a ghost, I know it came to Haslar and today I can visit it at the British Museum.
This story is part of a Ghosts of Haslar History Trail around Gosport’s Haslar Waterfront.