The Sadlermiut (also called Sagdlirmiut, or Sallirmiut in modern Inuktitut spelling, from Sadlerk now Salliq, the Inuktitut name for the settlement of Coral Harbour, Nunavut) were an Inuit group living in near isolation mainly on and around Coats Island, Walrus Island, and Southampton Island in Hudson Bay. They survived into the early 20th century and were thought by some to have been the last remnants of the Dorset culture as they had preserved a culture and dialect distinct from the mainland Inuit. Despite their culture and local traditions seeming to show combined elements of both the Dorset and Thule societies, genetic studies show no Dorset admixture and prove a sole Inuit ancestry leading many to conclude the cultural difference may be entirely due to their isolation from the mainland Inuit. Research published in 2015 found that the Sadlermiut were genetically Thule who had somehow acquired Dorset cultural features, such as stone technology. It remains a mystery how they acquired Dorset technology in the absence of obvious genetic admixture such as through intermarrying. History In 1824, HMS Griper, under Captain George Francis Lyon, anchored off Cape Pembroke on Coats Island in Hudson Bay. The whalers then encountered a band of Inuit who were said to have spoken a "strange dialect" and were called Sadlermiut. The Sadlermiut continued to establish contact with Westerners. However, as with many Indigenous North American groups, the Sadlermiut were often susceptible to Western diseases. By 1896, there were only 70 of them remaining. Then, in the fall of 1902, a British trading/whaling vessel named the Active had made a stop at Cape Low, Southampton Island. It is said that some of the Sadlermiut caught a disease, possibly an influenza, typhoid, or typhus, from a sick sailor aboard the Active, which then spread to the entire community. By the winter 1902-03, the entire Sadlermiut population except for a woman and four children had died. In 1954 and 1955, Henry B. Collins of the Smithsonian Institution studied Inuit house ruins in the Canadian Arctic. He determined that the ruins found at Native Point were characteristic of Sadlermiut culture which had once been quite extensive. He also found evidence that the Sadlermiut were the last remnants of the Dorset culture. Origins The Sadlermiut are most often cited for having maintained a unique culture and dialect apart from other Inuit, similar to the Unangam (Aleut), which is principally the result of