It is an epic journey that has everything to do with the sea, and very little to do with the specific rigors of long-distance kayaking. The impetus for Dick Wheeler's long paddle was the story of the extinct Great Auk, a flightless bird that migrated by swimming from its rookery on Funk Island in Northern Newfoundland 1500 miles to Buzzards Bay. The last of the Great Auks was clubbed to death in 1844, a scene that O'Callahan presents with brutal directness. The tragic history of this magnificent sea bird is one of systematic exploitation, an industry created for its wholesale slaughter, a tale that echoes with those of the buffalo, the passenger pigeon, and the whales. It is a history that ends in awful irony, as the last Great Auks were killed on behest of a natural history museum, specimens for their collection.
Stories have power.
The Great Auks' story sends Dick Wheeler to sea in a tiny kayak, following its path. Along the migration route of an extinct species, one is likely to encounter ghosts. The word of this feat goes out on the fishing radio, and the fisherfolk of the Maritimes throng into O'Callahan's story. I won't go cross the harbor in that t'ing, boy. Jay O'Callahan's skill in creating vibrant quirky characters in a few words is marvelously in evidence here.