Hamilton Inlet

Hamilton Inlet cuts deep into the coast of Labrador, joining Groswater Bay to the long waters of Lake Melville. The Churchill and Naskaupi rivers reach its inner end, carrying water from far inland. Inuit knew the inlet as Aivitok, the place of the walrus, and travelled along its shores in kayaks and larger skin boats. Innu routes from the interior also led towards Lake Melville.

In 1743 the Quebec merchant Louis Fornel sailed into the inlet, claimed the bay for France and left Jean Pilote and his son near the western end to establish trade. They remained among Innu families near what became North West River. Inuit middlemen also brought baleen from northern Labrador to Hamilton Inlet for exchange with French traders. The sheltered passage thus linked the inland fur trade with the hunting and commerce of the coast.