Archives Puzzles: Traveling with Taqulittuq

Each Monday, sit back, relax, and ease into the work week with puzzles created from images in our collections that have been designated as open access. Anyone can now download, transform, share, and reuse these images as part of Smithsonian Open Access, launched in 2020.

This week’s puzzle features a portrait of Taqulittuq, the Inuit interpreter and guide from Baffin Island, who was instrumental in saving the lives of the crew of the ill-fated Polaris expedition. Taqulittuq and her husband, Ebierbing, had already worked with American explorer Charles Francis Hall, charged with leading the expedition, for more than a decade when the couple set sail on the Polaris in an attempt to reach the North Pole. On that trip, Hall mqysteriously and suddenly died and within the year, the crew faced another catastrophe when 19 of its members, including Taqulittuq, Ebierbing, and their daughter, were stranded on an ice floe in Smith Sound. For six months, the group was able to survive, largely due to the couple’s hunting and survival skills.

The Original

The Puzzle