Tugtilik probably means "the place where the
reindeer live" (tugto is
Greenlandic for reindeer) and the river flowing into the fjord from the lake is rich in
Arctic char. It is likely to have been settled by
Inuit hunters for centuries. There are the remains of at least nine winter houses on the south and west side of the fjord, but all were abandoned by the 20th century. Following the success of his
British Arctic Air Route Expedition of 1930–31,
Gino Watkins returned to Tugtilik, or as he called it, Lake Fjord, in 1932 on the
East Greenland Expedition to continue the exploration work with a smaller team. A purpose of the expedition was to take metrological observations around the lake, the only place in the area where planes could land on skis or floats, without the hazard of icebergs and
pack ice. On 20 August 1932, he would die in this fjord after he went hunting for
seals in its waters. Later that day his empty
kayak was found floating upside down by his companions. His body was never found. A monument to Watkins stands on the rocky promontory between the main fjord and the westerly branch. The remains of the hunting hut of the 1932–33 East Greenland Expedition (Rejsehus) is at the head of the shallow western branch of the fjord. ==Geography==