DUNGENESS — High winds and five- to seven-foot swells capsized a Makah tribal canoe near the Dungeness Spit late Wednesday afternoon, killing a Canadian tribal chief and hospitalizing three canoeists.
Jerry Jack, 55, of Gold River, British Columbia, was pronounced dead at the scene, Clallam County Undersheriff Rich Sill said.
His family was notified Wednesday evening by Neah Bay tribal police.
Jack, hereditary chief of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht tribe, was involved in the controversy over the death of the orca Luna in Nootka Sound on west Vancouver Island last March.
It was not known if Jack drowned, Sill said.
“I don’t think we can determine that until we get the autopsy results,” Sill said, noting that the Sheriff’s Department is treating the incident as a boating accident and will conduct an investigation with the Coast Guard.
Three airlifted
Two men and one woman who also were aboard the capsized Makah canoe were airlifted by the Coast Guard from the base of the Dungeness Spit to a makeshift command center, then taken to Olympic Medical Center and treated for hypothermia.
“Everyone appears fine,” said nursing supervisor Ann Fischer.
None of the others was identified.
The six-person crew was paddling from Port Angeles toward Jamestown Beach, where they were to meet with about 30 other crews on the Inter-Tribal Canoe Journey.
The journey, an annual gathering of Pacific Northwest and British Columbia tribes to promote traditions as well as alcohol- and drug-free lifestyles among tribal youth, is midway through a route that is scheduled to end in Seattle on Monday.
The Muckleshoot tribe of Auburn is then scheduled to host a celebration, or potlatch, of participants for the rest of next week.
But Wednesday’s capsizing death has stunned participants, who gathered on Jamestown Beach after paddling from Port Angeles earlier in the day.
After receiving reports of a canoe that overturned and six people in the water at 5:20 p.m., a Coast Guard HH-65C Dolphin helicopter and a 41-foot small response boat from Group/Air Station Port Angeles were dispatched to the scene.
None of the crew was wearing lifejackets, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said from Seattle.
The helicopter found the people on the beach and helped hoist them from the beach to awaiting ambulances.
The name of the canoe was not immediately known.
“That is one piece of puzzle that we’re missing,” Sill said.
Treacherous conditions
Conditions on the Strait of Juan de Fuca were treacherous at the time the canoe overturned, Eggert said, noting that the water was 54 degrees.
“It was pretty windy and the seas were pretty choppy,” Eggert said.
A second canoe carrying five pullers was beached at the base of a bluff, and the canoeists were airlifted by the Coast Guard helicopter.
In addition to the survivors, Deputy Matt Murphy was hoisted out by the Coast Guard helicopter after he worked his way down the bluff to check on the survivors, Sill said.
Murphy was one of the last to be hoisted.
Most of the canoes from Port Angeles arrived safely at Jamestown earlier Wednesday.
The crews staying in Jamestown were expected to continue this morning at the request of Jack’s family, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council member Kurt Grinnell said Wednesday night.
The only pullers who will not continue from Jamestown are Jack’s family members and possibly the Makah.
