Makah to retire canoe used in 1999 whale hunt

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, August 29, 2006

NEAH BAY — Plans are in the works for retiring the Makah whaling canoe Hummingbird that was involved in a fatal capsizing during the 2006 Inter Tribal Canoe Journey in July.

“The tradition is to burn a canoe when something like this happens,” Makah Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said.

“We won’t with this one because it’s a whaling canoe.”

The 32-foot canoe has a history.

Hummingbird was used by a Makah whaling crew in 1999 during the tribe’s first successful whale hunt in more than 70 years.

Instead of burning it, Hummingbird will be stationed on a platform outside the Makah Marina in central Neah Bay, Johnson said.

Full details of the tribe’s plan for retiring Hummingbird will be shared today at a community dinner hosted by the Makah Tribal Council at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Hall on Bayview Avenue in Neah Bay.

Several First Nations chiefs from Canada have been invited to the dinner, along with the family of Joseph Andrew “Jerry” Jack, a hereditary chief of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht tribe of Vancouver Island who died in the capsizing.

Community members in Neah Bay are also welcome to the dinner, Johnson said.