John Parker (1803–1867) was an English whaling master. He was based at Hull for most of his life, and was one of the most successful and intrepid Arctic whalers to sail from that port in the 19th century. The products of the whaling trade such as oil and whalebone (baleen) were essential to the British economy during this period of the Industrial Revolution and the rigours of life on board a whaleship in the Greenland fisheries produced a particularly hardy and efficient breed of sailor. A remarkable career According to the 1861 census form completed when Parker was master of the whaleship Lady Seale, he was born at Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He commenced his seafaring career in 1815 and was a commander by 1831. Never losing a ship, he had no chronometer but relied on dead reckoning to reach his destination. He could also be considered an explorer as in his journeys he would almost certainly have visited places which had not been seen before by anyone other than the indigenous Inuit (or Eskimos as they were then called). Parker's Bay (Baffin Island), , was named after him. Captain Parker commanded the whale ship Truelove continuously for sixteen years in addition to other vessels such as and Harmony. When captain of the latter ship she was so severely damaged by the ice that he had her hull bound with chains, in which condition he sailed her safely back home to England. An exceptional whaler who, according to William Scoresby, in 1833 caught 28 whales between Cape York and Cape Kater, in Prince Regent Inlet. Concern for the Inuit Although a strong disciplinarian, outstanding seaman and navigator Captain Parker could also be considered a man of high principles and generous heart. Shocked by the impoverished condition and starvation of the Inuit inhabitants of Baffin Island as compared to those of Greenland where the Danish authorities treated them humanely, providing shelter and ensuring they had the means to hunt and clothe themselves adequately, in 1847 he brought two young Inuit to Britain in order to publicise their plight, raise money for the purchase of material goods for them, enlist government support for their relief and to persuade the Moravian Church to send a missionary to the region. The Inuit, named Memiadluck and Uckaluk (a 15-year-old orphan), were husband and wife and lived in the Parker home whilst in England where they learned basic