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Kullorsuaq Everyday Views 1995 Gail
Ferris www.nkhorizons.com/KullorsuaqEverydayViews95
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I arrived in Kullorsuaq via coastal ferry, Arctic
Royal Line, from Upernavik in July 1995 to see this town where the kayak is
used for hunting narwhal whales. |
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000 An
aerial view of some of the houses in Kullorsuaq after a September snow note
the variety of designs, life is very crowded in this town. Not the house in plywood under
construction, houses come into town on coastal freighter once a year as piles
of boards and building instructions.
All the boards, the entire house is carried
to the building site on people’s backs.
There are no roads here, just walkways and footpaths. |
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001 The
ferry, Angaju Ittuk, from Upernavik at the last stop north, Kullorsuaq moored
to the town pier being unloaded, local boats in the background 16 foot yawls
with outboards and the fish processing factory behind |
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002
Colon Archer boat from |
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003 Colon
Archer boat view of hull photo taken in Eå |
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004 the Jensens have just arrived note the color archer boat
resting on the stone slab beach |
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005
Beluga whale tied alongside the Jensen’s motorboat successful hunting in |
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006 Jensens going out hunting |
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007 whale
hunters with kayak across bow and motorboat in tow only narwhal can be hunted
via kayak |
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008 kids
having fun with their homemade boats in front of town |
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009 a
few sealskins drying and a kayak frame last used in the 1960’s |
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010 outdoor
cooking hearth left from last holiday |
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011
Adolf Jensen boat that takes x-rays of tubercular lungs resulting from poor
and overcrowded living conditions for many past years in this area |
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012 late
September whale hunting season unloading all the boats both large commercial
boats and small motorboats of whale skin / mattaq. |
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012
slabs of narwhal and beluga mattaq being unloaded
from boats to be piled in boxes and slid up to the factory on the dogsledge/komatiq.
Important source of income for these people |
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013
boxes of mattak being brought to the factory to be
stored for distribution throughout |
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014 Sven
Nielsen in his seal fur jacket and polar bear pants made by his wife. He is going seal hunting. He has lived here many years as a school
teacher and has a large family. |
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015 Nathanial
Jensen getting the dogsled ready; note the polyethylene plastic runners. These are just the best. They slide with no preparation over the
snow and ice. In prior times dogsled
runners had to be coated with mud then coated with water that froze to
ice. These plastic runners are always
slippery making the sled easy to move even when heavily loaded with
fish. Sleds go out over the ice taking
fishing long line equipment and come back loaded with Halibut starting in
January when the ice is thick enough. |
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016 all
the water up until late 1995 was brought by boat from an island water fall
four miles away. This boat is making
its last trip before there is too much ice on the water. When the boat cannot cross to the island
for water ice is gathered along the shore and brought to homes for
water. Having to live with such small
quantity of available water makes life much more complex and not so
clean. I used the same water for
bathing then again boiled up for washing dishes or the floor. |
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017 Ice
is starting to cause problems at the pier.
The ferry is moored off the town and unloaded by small boat. This is late October light. |
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018 this
is one of the last runs for the year of the ferry. The ferry stopped running in late November
when it was dark most of the day. |
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These
photos were taken in 1995 while I lived in Kullorsuaq Greenland. |
