Cape Blossom, Alaska, United States, North America
Accession Date:
5 Nov 1887
Collection Date:
1887
Notes:
From card: "With a double paddle, seal dart, 2 bird spears. Refer Collins' MS. p. 736. USNM. Bull. 127, p. 208-9 [sic, this should be p. 207-8]." From U.S. National Museum Bulletin 127, pp. 207-8: "Kaiak. Type used by the Eskimos at Cape Blossom, Alaska, for hunting. A decked, flat bottom, keelless skin canoe, with slightly flaring sides, long, pointed ends, straight, flat deck, except in front of manhole in center, where it is strongly ridged. Manhole set at angle, being much the ighest in front; equipped with one double-bladed paddle; made of sealskins sewn together with sinews when green and stretched over a light frame constructed of driftwood. Dimensions of kaiak. - Length, 17 feet 6 inches; beam, 19 inches; depth, 7 1/2 inches; paddles, 7 feet 9 inches long; manhole, 17 1/2 by 16 1/2 inches."
An intramural transfer of specimens document filed in accession file dated February 18, 1965 lists this boat as part of a group of 3 boats transferred from the Division of Transportation to the Division of Ethnology, Department of Anthropology.
Kayak is illustrated and described in detail in Golden, Harvey. 2015. Kayaks of Alaska. Portland, OR: White House Grocery Press: Plate 65, p. 318 and pp. 332 - 333. Kayak double-blade paddle is illustrated and described in same publication: p. 498 and Color Plate XXIV, # 1, after p. 274.
