Bringing the fall whale home, part 1: The hunt

Three or four days ago, one of my Facebook friends posted a picture he had just taken on the Chukchi Sea a bit offshore from Barrow. The Arctic Ocean looked pretty much the way one would expect it to this time of year. The surface was all ice, with pressure ridges piled up a short distance in front of the photographer.

This is what the Arctic Ocean looked like on October 7, the final day I followed Savik Crew onto the ocean in the very excellent boat named "Popeye." One would not normally expect to see the ocean totally ice covered during the first week of October, but would expect to see icebergs and pans floating here and there. In the five days spread out over the week I followed the Savik Crew into the waters north of Point Barrow, where the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas merge as one, we saw no ice at all.

The temperature was usually just a bit above freezing, sometimes just a bit below - very warm for Barrow in early October.

What was right is that there were whales in this mass of water, bowheads, migrating to the west and south for the winter. For the thousands of years the Iñupiat have lived on the Arctic Coast of Alaska, come spring and then fall, the bowhead have always migrated past and the people have always been glad to see them, to accept the gift of food, sustenance, spirit and culture the whales bring to them.

These days, while the spring hunt continues to be carried out on the ice primarily in skin covered boats, aluminum motorboats are used in the open water of fall. Whatever the boat, the meaning of the whale remains the same to the people. It brings them together, in cooperation and hard work; it provides them with the food that will keep them warm in the cold like no other, the food their ancestors ate, the food they dearly want to ensure to their descendants.

The whales bring them culture, identity. The whales define the place of the Iñupiat, unique in all the world.

Spring or fall, a whaling captain will spend a great deal of money on the hunt. Some years, the captain will land nothing, but will still share in the catch of others. When he (or she - as you will see later in the series) does bring home the whale, he will give most of it away to his community - not for money, but for love, survival and honor. When he gives that whale away, he brings not only sustenance to his community, but joy.

You will see the joy, too.

Not everybody from grocery store America can understand this, but its true.

This is early morning October 1, the first day we went out. We began to gather in the home of Savik Ahmaogak at 5:00 AM, where we shared breakfast. Just before we went out, the crew and family members gathered around the table and clasped hands. Savik, who is 79 now and no longer goes out with his crew, spoke a few words about the importance of whaling and the sacred nature of it, then offered a prayer.

Between breakfast and the prayer, I had stepped outside for a few minutes to take a few pictures of Popeye. I did not think I had been out long enough for my camera to be cold enough to fog up when I brought it back into the house, but I was wrong. I could hardly see through the fogged up lens, but I took the picture, anyway.

Most days, Savik's grandson Eben Brower drove the boat.

Usually, it was still dark when we got on the water. This day began with rough seas, so we stayed onshore thinking there would be no hunting. But the seas calmed and out we went. Co-Captain Roy Ahmaogak, Savik's son, readies the shoulder gun. His son, Benjamin Hopson, prepares the harpoon and darting gun.

Whaler Pat Hugo looks for a bowhead. Pat is orginally from the inland village of Anaktuvuk Pass on the continental divide of the Brooks Range. It is a place where many caribou migrate through and that is why the village located itself there. Each day, Pat brought a pack filled with dried caribou meat and fat from Anaktuvuk. He kept us all well fed.

As Eben drives the boat, Roy spots a whale off in the distance behind us. We turn and go after it. That's his nephew, young whaler Norman Snow, in the cabin.

Ben grips the harpoon as he scans the water ahead, hoping the whale the crew now pursues will resurface in view.

Spray splashes over the top of Popeye to drench Ben.

Pat Hugo shouts out upon seeing a blow on the other side of the boat.

A bit later, Pat points toward a whale track. Yes, whales leave tracks behind them as they swim through the ocean. The patch of water that closes over them after they break the surface and then go down again appears more slick and smooth than the water around it.

Ben gets ready as the boat follows whale tracks toward a bowhead. The smooth patch just off to the side in front of him is a whale track. Another bowhead track can be seen in the glare of the sun just over his shoulder.

The boat and Ben reach the whale just as it dives. Ben throws the harpoon but it is a clean miss. This sometimes happens to the best. Last spring, Ben harpooned a whale and made an instant kill.

The harpoon and float.

Ben retrieves the harpoon and prepares himself in the hope of another try, but it won't happen this time.

The season began with six strikes and a ceasefire rule that after three strikes had been made all hunting would end for the day. The crews still on the water would help bring in the three whales taken. After a whale was dropped off, Savik's granddaughter, Miss Teen Top of the World Kellen Rose Snow, a senior at Barrow High, got to drive the boat back home.

Perhaps one day she will drive it to a whale.

In part 2, two whales will be brought back to Barrow.

Full series index:

Preview to Barrow fall whaling story: Early morning with Savik Crew on the Beaufort

Bringing the fall whale home, part 1: The hunt

Bringing home the whale, part 2: Tattoo of whale tails created in honor of ancestor taken by museum; three whales are brought home

Bringing home the whale, part 3: A boy becomes a man - throws the harpoon, carries the flag; whale is cut, divided

Bringing the fall whale home, part 4: The community gets fed

Comments

[angel]

Gorgeous photos. I especially love Pat Hugo shouting and Ben waiting for another try with the harpoon. A lot of emotion, beautiful ocean and light.
Excited to read part 2 :)