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Capt. Cleveland Anthology: Vagrant Viking
From the book:
Freuchen, Peter. Vagrant Viking: My Life and Adventures. New York: Julian Messner, 1953.
p. 169 [c. 1921-2]:
"In the morning they showed us the way to the Hudson's Bay Company station in Repulse Bay where we met the magnificent manager, Captain Cleveland. He was an enormous man with a far-reaching voice. He was the only white man in the district, and he lived like a native in that he had three wives. He received us with open arms, apologizing that he had lived in a country where a man could get only six bottles of liquor a year - 'for medicinal purposes.'
"Knud was again the master of the situation. He had brought along two bottles of brandy, and he asked Cleveloand for permission to donate them to him, although he realized, of course, that it was strictly illegal to bring them into the country.
"We spent a delightful night with Cleveland while he and his three wives got drunk. The next day we set off again. Cleveland had told us that a French scientist, Captain Berthie, was in his district a little further down the coast. Berthie had planned to make his headquarters in Repulse Bay, but had been caught by the ice and was now stranded in Roes Welcome with his small schooner. The purpose of the trip, Cleveland told us, was to locate the magnetic pole.
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p. 170 [c. 1921-2]:
"Berthie kept me company on my trip back to Danish Island for a visit with us before we all crossed over to Repulse Bay again to celebrate Christmas with Captain Cleveland. The old man got uproariously drunk while I prepared our Christmas dinner and the young scientists read their christmas mail."
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p. 183 [c. 1923-4]:
"Captain Cleveland had great news to tell us. After thirty-five uninterrupted years in the Hudson Bay country he was going on vacation. He had been granted a full year's leave and was agog with excitement, planning a trip to China where he had always wanted to go. He was very vulnerable to the attractions of the weaker sex, and he had heard intruiging stories about the Chinese women which he now wanted to check on. This weakness of his caused him some trouble before he was able to leave Repulse Bay. All his former wives turned up with their husbands, they all had had children by him, and they wanted him to share in their support. There could never be any doubt about the paternity, all these little Eskimos had Cleveland's nose, which was larger than any nose ever seen in the Arctic.
"The atmosphere was somewhat tense in repulse Bay, and we moved over to Beach Point near by. ..."