Benefit Cruise
Dear Editor: This year’s Sitka Maritime Heritage Society 4th of July Cruise was, as always, enjoyable and interesting. The sunny weather was a special bonus! This year’s theme was “Herring,” so we cruised the historic herring spawning grounds between Aleutkina Bay and Povorotni Point and heard some fascinating stories. It took lots of help to pull off such a successful cruise, and we would like to thank some of the major contributors:
First, our speakers: thanks to Harvey Kitka, who spoke about what the subsistence and commercial herring fishery in Sitka Sound was like in the 20th century. Louise Brady then reminded us of the deep connection between the herring and the Tlingit people, and shared a beautiful, traditional story of herring and people in Sitka. Our own board member Josh Wisniewski shared some archaeological research demonstrating the importance of herring to the very early inhabitants of our region, circa 10,000 to 14,000 B.C. Josh also told the fascinating and disturbing story of the boom-and-bust commercial herring fishery in Southeast Alaska. Joy Light then shared her family photos and some reminiscences of growing up at a herring reduction plant on the shores of Washington Bay, Kuiu Island.
Fifty fathoms of thanks to Allen Marine Tours and the crew of the St. Eugenia for their generosity, Raven Radio and the Sitka Daily Sentinel for helping to get the word out, and all the stores who displayed our posters. Many thanks to Old Harbor Books for taking on the big job of handling ticket sales. Finally, thank you to everyone who came on the cruise – your support is critical to our projects; recording and sharing the history and heritage of Sitka’s maritime community.
Sitka Maritime Heritage Society
Board of Directors
