Kalakala

The Kalakala (kah-LAK-ah-lah) is a unique art deco ferry boat that operated on the Salish Sea and Puget Sound from 1935 until 1967. In 1933, the vessel was sold to the Puget Sound Black Ball Line and refit to operate as a ferry. It was a popular tourist attraction during the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. The Kalakala was issued FCC license #001 for the first commercial radar system. 


In 1967 the vessel was sold to a seafood processing company and towed to Alaska to work as a crabbing ship. After a time the Kalakala was beached in Kodiak and used to process shrimp and as a cannery. In 1998, she was rediscovered  and, after complicated financial negotiations, the ship was re floated and towed back to Seattle by the fearless Holly James. However, since sufficient funds could not be raised for her refurbishment, she languished in Seattle's Union Bay until she was evicted. Next, the Maakah First Nation people of Neah Bay took pity on her and allowed the Kalakala to be moored free of charge in a tribal harbor.  

Kalakala means seagull in Chinook Jargon, a "creole" language created from native Pacific Northwest dialects for use in trade with the "Anglo" people. It was said of her gleaming hull that she looked like a seagull sitting on the water. Seagulls do not have a good reputation in the coastal Northwest. They are very noisey scavengers and tend to indiscriminately deposit bird droppings. They are also carrion eaters and are often seen fighting over the smelliest fish carcass. The Black Ball Line understandably wanted their vessel to be known as the Silver Swan but it was the name Kalakala that has endured. 

The native tribes of the Northwest are concentrated around coastal regions and estuaries. Their culture is intimately connected to the sea and inland waterways. Historically, each tribe occupied an economic niche that exploited natural resources while not infringing on the food sources of other tribes. An exception would be during salmon runs when the plenitude allowed everyone to take as much as they could cure. The Maakah people of Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula were seal and whale hunters. They would await the yearly whale migration at the Seiku bluff and could immediately tell which specie had arrived by their seal point. 

At the notification by the lookout the Maakah men would rush to their canoes and paddle out to intercept the whale. Their highly structured society was built on status achieved at these whale hunts. One hunter would harpoon the whale with a device that was attached to a seal skin float. This float was filled with air and slowed the behemoth and kept it from deep diving. More floats would be attached until the whale tired and eventually stopped swimming. At this point, a high-status young man or a man wishing to achieve a higher status, would jump into the freezing water with the dying behemoth and sew the mouth shut. This was to prevent the whale from taking on water and sinking. What an amazing connection these people must have had with the sea and the animals that inhabit it!


There has not been much ethnographic research regarding these tribes or their myths and legends. As a matter of fact, their burial rites and other cultural practices have been historically met with contempt. When an area bridge needed to be rebuilt, it was discovered that the area the old pylons had been built was back-filled with bones from an ancient burial ground. How did these people dispose of their dead? Anecdotal evidence shows that each tribe may have had very different methods. 


Jim Trainer, an arborist in the ancestral Suquamish tribal area has found burials sites inside massive tree trunks. Canoes containing bones were interred inside living trees as if they were to become part of its continued growth. It is not known if only certain individuals achieved this rite or if only select trees received this honor. Tree burials immediately call to mind the myth of Osiris who was embedded in the trunk of a tree. Also, Egyptian barqs were buried near Pharaohs tombs for his journey through the underworld. Perhaps these ancient people had a similar view of the afterlife? Finding an area on the coast where a human could be buried underground would be a daunting task. Glaciation has laid down a deep stratum of hardpan clay soil that is denser than concrete. A much more practical and culturally significant method would be to lay the deceased in a canoe and float it out to sea. Other peoples connected to the sea have adopted this method. If so, the body would undoubtedly be excarnated by seagulls and, therefore, returned to the sea for fulfillment of the cycle. In the cultures of the Red Sea, the completion of this cycle is called Sheva or Saba. 

 It is now time for the Kalakala to complete her cycle. She deserves to be allowed to lie on the floor of the sea to become a home for fish fry and other sea creatures. It is so sad to see the once proud vessel list in the mud of Foss waterway. Please, Steve Rodriquez, end her suffering. Let the Kalakala go to her eternal resting place on the ocean floor.