I don't think there were much studies made on the Inuit people nor their lifestyle. Whites back then had a bad tendency to look down on the native people and probably did not considered them as a source for information.  Both HMS Terror and Erebus were "bomb ship" per say....that for the rest of you reading not knowing is a ship built to carry large mortars. Thus it has to be stoutly build to withstand the heavy recoil that shakes the entire ship. A perfect type of ship for Arctic exploration in their days. In modern term, we would be singing "mortar shells bursting in air"......doesn't sound too catchy, eh? Whenever a historical ship has been found at the bottom of the ocean, I often recalled that phase..."when the sea shall give up her dead" and often think they were talking about dead ships!!