Suction Bailer Or Siphon, Part Of Equipment For A Two-Hatch Kayak
date: label: Collection Date
content: 1892
name: label: Donor Name
content: Accession Number Unknown
notes: label: Notes
content: Card indicates the kayak # E160330 was transferred to the Division of Ethnology from the Division of Engineering June 12, 1947, and the kayak was then sent as a gift to the Peabody Museum, New Haven, Conn., Nov. 6, 1947. As of 2008, the parts of E160330 that remain in the collections are 2 kayak spray skirts [E160330-0 and -1], an atlatl [E160330-2], and a kayak suction bailer or siphon [E160330-3]. Kayak is visible in photo negative # 31357 - the two hole kayak hanging on wall in center in photo.
label: Notes
content: See Collins boat MS. pp. 773-774. The kayak and kayak equipment are identified there and on catalogue card as collected in 1892; source of this date unknown. No accession number or collector/donor name is listed. Speculatively, the 1892 date may indicate it was part of the material collected for the World's Columbian Exposition/Chicago World's Fair of 1893 by the U.S. Fish Commission, though it does not appear on the lists in that accession record.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=252, retrieved 5-14-2014: Siphon, also called suction bailer While at sea, Unangan hunters used hollow wooden tubes to empty out sea water that seeped into their skin-covered kayaks. To use this bailer or "pump," a man bent over in the cockpit of his boat, put one end of the tube to his lips, and sucked up the water that was sloshing around between his legs. Then he covered the lower end with the tube with his finger and emptied it over the side. Pieces of natural sponge were also used to pick up water from inside the boat. Along with hooded rain jackets, Unangan kayakers often wore waterproof pants made of sea mammal intestines. A bailing tube was made by shaping and then splitting a solid block of wood. The two halves were then hollowed out and lashed back together with string or sinew. Fixing small leaks at sea was sometimes possible using blubber and a piece of flat wood or rock inserted between the frame and skin cover.(4) However, any large tear would instantly put a man's boat and life at risk. An inflated seal skin or sea lion stomach was carried on board as an emergency buoy to keep the boat afloat while rips in the skin were sewn.(5) An extra large version of the kayak pump was invented to remove water from wooden row boats (called dories) which replaced kayaks as everyday working boats in the early 20th century.
label: Notes
content: From Elders' discussions of the object in 2003 with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Vlass Shabolin: That's for the kayak I think. Yes, to suck the water out of the kayak. Mary Bourdukofsky: To get water out, yes. Daria Dirks: So what do you call this? Mary Bourdukofsky: Uuchusig^. (Something to suck water out.) Vlass Shabolin: Yes, uuchusig^. You carried it alongside the rib on their kayak. When they got seal, halibut, whatever, when they got it, they would get some water in the kayak, and then they use this. They can't stand up in the kayak, they're sitting down so they suck the water out and keep doing that until all the water is out of the kayak. Mary Bourdukofsky: Not in our time. Vlass Shabolin: Way before our time. Manually operated water pump. [Laughter.] Vlass Shabolin: It's a light wood. Everything's that light [for a kayak], because if you drop it overboard, it won't sink, you grab it. It's a very important thing to have on a kayak. Aron Crowell: I would think you would have to have a nice fit too, because it has to be airtight the whole thing, in order to work. Mary Bourdukofsky: Yes, it is. You can tell it's split right in half, and they carved the inside out.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 May 2016
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Aleutian 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: 000000
label: USNM Number
content: E160330-3
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak Bailer
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 69 cm