Alutiiq Boats

Alutiiq men with a three-hatched kayak, Uganik Village, ca. 1915. Photo by Dennis Winn, McCubrey Collection, Alutiiq Museum Library.

Before motorized boats, Alutiiq people traveled Kodiak’s waters in qayat–kayaks and angyat—large open boats. Every Alutiiq man owned a qayaq, a swift, lightweight craft expertly assembled from wood and animal skins. The qayaq was a lifeline. Men harvested from the ocean, traded across great distances, and brought supplies home. Children could even travel along, lying inside the boat.

Traveling by Kayak—A Memory

From an interview with Natalie Fadaoff Simeonoff of Woody Island, 1991

“In the summertime, mama tells me, and this is probably where I got claustrophobia, they would load us in the bidarkis and . . . She said they would have a chicken maybe, a couple of chickens maybe, a dog, a cat, and two babies and the mother, and, papa would take us over to Eagle Harbor where we would camp for the summer. And we lived in tents. We would dry fish, and then in the fall they would bring us back home.”

Listen to Natalie

Qayaq

Angyaq

The Fast Kayak, 1868

The Fast kayak is 14.5 feet long. It has a lashed wooden frame that is covered in oiled seal skin and decorated with human hair and beads. Photo courtesy of Harvard University, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Collected by U.S. Army Officer Lt. William Fast in 1868, this one-man qayaq was stored in Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Alutiiq culture-bearers identified the qayaq in Harvard’s collections and consulted on its care. Although its exact origin is unknown, the boat’s construction is uniquely Alutiiq. It features an upturned bow, a hallmark of qayat built to slice through the rough, windy waters of the Alutiiq world.

Alfred Naumoff studies the Fast kayak in storage at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. Photo by Sven Haakanson Jr.

Kayak Care

Kodiak Alutiiq culture bearers worked with Peabody Museum staff members to preserve the Fast qayaq before it traveled to Kodiak for study and display. In 2022, Harvard permanently transferred the qayaq to the care of the Alutiiq Museum.

Maritime Skill

Seafarers in the Gulf of Alaska regularly encounter dangerous winds, heavy rains, dense fog, freezing spray, and towering waves. Sturdy boats, waterproof clothing, and knowledge of the weather are essential for all ocean travelers as the threats of hypothermia and drowning are always present. Alutiiq people came to Kodiak by water and perfected their maritime technologies over 7,000 years of coastal living. The qayaq—kayak was one of their most important tools. A flexible wooden frame, upturned bow, and oiled skin cover helped qayat–kayaks cut through Kodiak’s rough waters.

Engineered

Every qayaq was custom built to fit its owner’s proportions. Craftsmen carved qayaq parts from driftwood and lashed them together with sinew and baleen. Women sewed boat covers from de-haired seal or sea lion skins, using special waterproof stitches. A coating of oil helped the skin cover slide over the frame and glide through the water.

Photo: Men paddling in the Kalruk River, ca. 1899. Albatross Collection, National Archive 22-FA-1154.

Waterproof

Alutiiq kayakers wore kanaglluut–rain jackets made from animal intestines. These lightweight, water-repellant jackets were stitched from bear and sea mammal intestines. They protected paddles from rain and sea spray. The bottom of each jacket had a wide opening and a drawstring. The paddler climbed in his boat and tied the bottom of his jacket around the opening. This prevented water from getting in the qayaq and warm air from leaving. Around their wrists, paddlers tied cuffs of baleen to keep water from running up their sleeves. Qayaq skins were treated with oil to form a barrier between the boat and the water.

Photo: Gutskin jacket made by Mary Demedov Sargent for her daughter Ester, ca. 1907. Gift of Neil Sargent.

Equipped

Every paddler filled his qayaq with essential equipment. Men carried hunting and fishing gear, tools for boat maintenance, food, water, and amulets. To the deck of their boats, they lashed harpoons, killing lances, quivers filled with arrows, fishing rigs, a stunning club, and extra paddles. Inside the boat, they carried survival gear–a bailer, containers of fresh water, food and sewing tools for emergency repairs, a bag of spare harpoon parts, and amulets for hunting luck. Grass mats or skin pads provided a cushion for kneeling paddlers.

Photo: Wooden bailer, collected by Eugene Lightfoot, ca. 1940. Gift of the Sundberg Family.

Qayat