The original kayak fisherman

"OG"

I've mentioned this here before, but I highly recommend renting the 1922 documentary "Nanook of the North".  You can find it on Netflix.

at the front of my queue!

Bsteves, I am not very Netflix savvy, how do you find this stuff on there.  Do you know the name before hand and type it in or can you search for it.  All I want to do is search things like that but can never find them.  I will admit I havn't spent much time on the site but when I do I'm lost.
jason

Dude! I love "Nanook of the North".My fourth grade teacher showed that to the class and has been one of my all time favorites ever since.I also loved a book called "The Eskimo Hunter" that I tried to find recently and it's  been out of print since the 60's, but also full of cool Eskimo adventures.

I was reading somewhere that Inuit kayakers were taken prisoner and used by Russian fur traders to take a huge chunk out of the otter population along the California coast.Unfortunately most if not all of the Inuit hunters were beaten to death or died of diseases at the hands of their captors.Anyone ever hear about that?

Can't speak as to whether or not the Aleut indians (not Inuit. Inuit is generally used by the peoples of Eastern Canada and Greenland to describe themselves) were beaten to death, but they were essentially slaves to the Russians, and yes they did come down here to CA to hunt otter. IIRC, Fort Ross was one such Russian fur trading base.

Scott

Aaron,

I never heard that story but it is not too suprizing considering some of the horible things Europian explorers and settlers did all over the world duirng the colonization and expansion periods.  I will have to check out Nanook.  It even sounds like it is child appropriate and educational.  I think I will comit suiside if I have to watch "High School Musical" even one more time .

Aleut! That's right.Thanks for the correction.That was a harsh period in history, but reading about it makes me have a great deal of respect for the original CA kayakers.

jason, I just typed in 'nanook' in the search box and it came up on netflix.

I agree tho that it is hard to find stuff on there. I found some of the best stuff,
more or less by accident.

try the mockumentary, 'fishing with john'.

it's hilarious...

J

Nanook just got added to my Netflix queue!

For those who manage to watch Nanook soon... check out how much he manges to stuff in his kayak.  If I remember correctly, after he gets out of his kayak, and then his wife, three children and a bunch of dogs follow.  It's pretty impressive given that I have problems finding room for my fishing gear.

Nanook  of the North. I actually saw that film when I was in third grade,( How long ago that was…is not important) I remember his family getting out of that kayak and being totally in awe. I also remember going home and trying to get my stepfather to trade his fishing boat in for a kayak. I also remember him laughing hysterically and not being able to stop.  It did take a while to get my own yak on the water.

It was the Aleutian People the Russian fur traders exploited to harvest the sea otter. I read about one such voyage where the Russian traders kidnapped Aleutian women and children and held them hostage on their ships. What followed was an unknown number of the men were forced to hunt otters from their kayaks. The hunt began I think in the Aleutian Islands and ended in Baja. The men were forced to stay in their kayaks the entire way. They ate , slept and did what ever they had to relieve themselves in their kayaks. If the Aleutian Hunters protested in any way, the Russian traders would then throw a women or child over board. More than half of the Aleutian’s died along the way. At the end of the voyage the sea otter was well on its way to extinction and the Aleutian’s to theirs.
To this day The Aleutian people are considered by many to be the best kayakers the world has ever seen.




One of the best sources I’ve found to learn about the history of the kayak as well as it’s techniques is this one  http://www.qajaqusa.org/

Here’s a bit from  http://www.apiai.org/default.asp
“ Aleut hunters were often enslaved, others forcibly relocated, some as far south as the Santa Catalina Islands off California, their wives and children held hostage to ensure acquiescence.

The Russian monarchy attempted to enforce fair treatment, but it was not until the arrival of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1800s, that the Aleuts' rights were argued in Russian courts. After the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, the Aleut found themselves classified as "Indians" and made wards of the government. Under U.S. protectorate, the Aleut entered a time of what can best be described as benign neglect, receiving little or no support from the Territorial or Federal authorities. The Aleut worked the introduced fox and sheep farms for wages, became construction workers or longshoremen, but almost all still looked to the sea for sustenance.

The Aleuts' hardships lasted for over two centuries, under the governing hand of two countries, culminating finally in the forced evacuation from their homeland during World War II, where the unique geography of their islands, the link between east and west, again played a pivotal role in their history.”

That's a Greenlander in your picture

Scott, Didn't the Aleut hunt whales from a longboat called an umiak?From the descriptions I've heard it almost sounds like something between a canoe and a long sit-on-top kayak.

That's a Greenlander in your picture

I know that! Actually it's one of the few old photo's that I have permission to use. I posted it more for the subject of the post that about the Aleutian people.
Aaron, Whales were hunted by the Aleut and others in the umiak. If I can find an image, I'll post it.