Lunchtime talk reveals more on Aberdeen’s most incredible visitors

21 August 2017

Aberdeen Maritime Museum plays host this Wednesday (23 August) to a free lunchtime talk about one the most amazing stories in the city’s history.

Neil Curtis, Head of Museums at Aberdeen University, will be talking about the staggering true story of an Inuit who is believed to have sailed the 1200 miles from Greenland to Aberdeen in 1728 in a kayak made from seal skin stretched over a fragile wooden frame.

Sadly, our unexpected visitor is believed to have died just a few days after his gruelling ordeal. However, his vessel still survives and is held in the University’s collections. A life size photograph of the craft and several model kayaks are on display in the Maritime Museum along with other Inuit objects as part of the current Sea Change exhibition.

In the exhibition - this fascinating story sits alongside the contemporary Greenland to Scotland Challenge undertaken by Olly Hicks and George Bullard who travelled the 1,200 miles from Greenland to Scotland in their modern day carbon fibre kayak – also featured in the show.

Astonishingly, the 1728 visitor was only one of several Inuit who reportedly visited the north east of Scotland in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Mr Curtis’ talk ‘The Inuit Discovery of Scotland?’ will shed some more light on this fascinating episode in Aberdeen’s history and on contact between North America and Scotland.

This fascinating free lunchtime talk is one a series of talks taking place every Wednesday at the Maritime Museum the late summer and autumn period.

All the talks are free but booking is essential. Call 01224 337714 to book your space.