3 - Hatch Bidarka
date: label: Accession Date
content: 3 Mar 1894
label: Collection Date
content: 1892
name: label: Collector
content: Captain Zera L. Tanner
label: Collector
content: USS Albatross
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Originally had following accessories: 3 hatch breakwaters [spray skirts], 3 double paddles, 3 whale spears, 1 whale line, 2 spear throwers, 1 chafing stick [presumably a gunnel board]. Almost identical to [Div. of Engineering] Cat. No. 76, 821. Refer: Collins MS. p. 782." As of 2013, there is one Aleut-style double blade paddle (painted red and black) with this catalogue number stored with the kayak and one Aleut-style double blade paddle (painted red and black) stored separately from the kayak. Associated artifacts are Catalogue Nos. E168525 - 35.
label: Notes
content: Provenience note: Accession record indicates that this kayak was collected by Capt. Zera Luther Tanner of the USS Albatross in Unalaska in 1892. This kayak is old Division of Engineering number 76281. At some point when the catalogue card was retyped (sometime from 1965 or later), the collection information for kayak number 76821 was mistakenly typed onto the catalogue card for kayak E398278. "Collector Capt. M.A. Healy, U.S. Revenue Cutter Corwin, 1885", which was typed on the card, applies to kayak 76821. It does not apply to E398278 (old number 76281). This kayak, under number 76281, is included on a shipping invoice dated June 23, 1947, filed in Accession 36096, recording the transfer of a number of boats from the Division of Engineering to the Division of Ethnology.
label: Notes
content: From Collins Ms. p. 782: Aleutian Three-Hole Bidarka. Used chiefly for travelling by the Aleut Indians of Alaska. this type of skin boat was originally introduced by the Russians or through their influence. The Russian traders used boats of this kind, the trader sitting in the middle while the boat is propelled by an Indian seated in the middle at each end. Full size. Unalaska, Alaska, 1892. Collected by U.S. Steamer Albatross, U.S. Fish Commission. A long, narrow, round bottom, keeless skin canoe; decked with three manholes; long, sharp cleft bow sharp stern; hogback sheer; fully equipped with paddles, spears, etc. The covering of the bidarka is made from the skin of the female sea lion, the seams being ornamented with hair probably obtained from the bear. This is drawn over the wooden frame when green and securely lashed at the manholes. The bidarka has the following equipment: 3 hatch breakwaters; 3 double paddles; 3 whale spears used in the capture of the beluga or white whale, hurled with a throwing board; the heads of the spears are made of walrus ivory attached to a bridle or line of braided sinew; 1 whale line cut from the head of the sea lion and used in connection with the spears; 2 throwing boards; 1 small chafing stick. Dimensions of bidarka: Length, 23 feet; beam 25 inches; depth, 14 1/2 inches."
label: Notes
content: Kayak is illustrated and described in detail in Golden, Harvey. 2015. Kayaks of Alaska. Portland, OR: White House Grocery Press: Plate 6, p. 58; pp. 80 - 82; Color Plate II, # 2, after p. 274. The two double blade kayak paddles are also illustrated and described in this publication: Color Plate X, #s 2 and 3, after p. 274; pp. 454 - 455.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Jul 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 3
place: label: Place
content: Unalaska Island / Unalaska, Aleutian Islands / Fox Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 028022
label: USNM Number
content: E398278-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak / Kayak Paddle
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 25 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 69 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 742 cm