DCHP-1 Online
slooper Hist. 
1 n. a Hudson's Bay Company employee engaged as a skipper for a sailing craft operated by Eskimo crews for local tripping around Hudson Bay.
- 1784 (1954) I am afraid I shall not be able to supply the Sloopers with their Summer's Stock for I shall have no Indians here to Hunt this Spring.
- 1939 . . . the Company brought out Orkneymen as sloopers, carpenters, and coopers.
2 n. a crewman on such a vessel.
- 1843 That from & after the close of the Current Outfit, the Wages of Mechanics on new Engagements will be as follows. Sloopers £23 Stg.
- 1913 That year [1867] all the sloopers . . . had been drafted for service at the Moose Factory.
- 1913 . . . all the steerage passengers were obliged to assist on deck, while those engaged as " sloopers"--seamen--. . . berthed with the crew. . . .
- 1784 (1954) I am afraid I shall not be able to supply the Sloopers with their Summer's Stock for I shall have no Indians here to Hunt this Spring.