wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Presbyterian Yupik whalers on Bering Sea had good hunt,

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8726 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05238
May 6, 2005

The long way home

Presbyterian Alaska whalers on Bering Sea
had good hunt, terrible luck

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Because the Alaskan village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island is
so small, every citizen plays a crucial role. Among the 600 Yupiks there -
close-knit if not interrelated - Jason Nowpakahok, 38, was a star hunter and
fearless whaler. He was mayor of Gambell and captain of the Bowhead Whale
Rider crew.

	On April 26, the news from the Bowhead crew's CB radio was good: They
had "struck" a whale and were towing it back to shore behind their
walrus-skin-covered whaling boat, with the help of several other boats. It
takes three or four whales each spring to keep the village in food and fuel
for the following year, so the villagers were elated.

	Then the Bering Sea weather turned bad. Desperate to keep their prize
catch, Jason and his five crewmates - including his 11-year-old daughter,
Yolanda, and 11-year-old nephew, Leonard Nowpakahok - stayed tethered to
their 40-ton bowhead until their 17-foot boat swamped and then broke up in
the eight-foot swells.

	Four whalers - Jason, Yolanda, Leonard and James Uglowook, 20 -
perished in what Gambell residents said is the worst whaling accident in
anyone's memory.

	"We always say that whenever they catch a whale, a way home will
always be 
provided," whaler Merlin Koonooka told the Anchorage Daily News. "That's what
always happened before ... but not this time."

	It was a particularly devastating loss for Beulah Nowpakahok, an
elder (and matriarch) of the Gambell Presbyterian Church. She lost a son, a
nephew and two grandchildren in the tragedy. Last fall her oldest son,
Jason's brother, committed suicide.

	"We simply cannot imagine the impact of this on Gambell," Yukon
Presbytery executive David Dobler told the Presbyterian News Service in an
April 29 interview. "This one family was not only the backbone of the Gambell
church, they were the backbone of the entire community. The Nowpakahoks had
successfully preserved the subsistence lifestyle that is central to the Yupik
culture."

	Dobler, who flew from Anchorage to Gambell upon hearing of the
tragedy, described Jason Nowpakahok as "well organized and selfless. As a
provider and mayor of the village, he got a lot done and didn't take any
credit." 

	As Jason Nowpakahok fought to keep his boat afloat, he put out a
distress call, but he must have known it was futile, Dobler said. "Along with
everything else, Jason was the head of the village's search and rescue unit."
In trouble and 15 miles out at sea, he and his crew didn't have much of a
chance.

	It wasn't unusual, Dobler said, for children as young as 11 to be out
whaling with relatives. "Typically, they start going out at about age 4," he
said. It was a little unusual for a daughter to be out in the whaling boats,
"but Yolanda was an unusual girl, totally devoted to her father," Dobler
said. "And Leonard was born to be a whaler."

	So the 62-member Gambell Presbyterian Church congregation - along
with many other villagers - gathered on April 30 for a memorial service for
Jason, Yolanda and Leonard, whose bodies were not recovered. "People just
pile in so the family's not alone," Dobler said. "Not much talking is
needed."

	The hymns were a mix of traditional Yupik songs and familiar
Presbyterian hymns - no doubt taught to the villagers generations ago by
Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson. On the back of the bulletin was a
photocopy of a note Yolanda had written recently: "Dear Jesus, I have been
having a bit of trouble. Can you help me through my ways? Yes. Thank you.
You're so kind."

	The service concluded with the planting of three crosses around the
grave of Beulah Nowpakahok's husband.

	Life goes on in Gambell, but the loss of two children and two adults
in a village laced with family ties will make the job of butchering the whale
more of a chore than it should be, longtime whaling captain Wade Okhtokiyuk
told the Anchorage Daily News. "It's going to be kind of a brown day, with
heavy things on your mind," he said.
 
	"There's work to be done. This will not stop us from going whaling."

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