Harmon and Randall's Voyage…

Leg 2

Blog 5

July 5, 2024

Photo credit: (Hope McKenney/KUCB)

Some 36ish hours since we left Sand Point, I thought I would do a quick history of Dutch Harbor before we make landfall in a few hours (not a lot else to discuss). We will stay for one or two days, so actual report to follow.This is what I find so interesting about Dutch…

1. Dutch Harbor sits on Unalaska Island, and the proper name of the town is Unalaska as well – kind of like New York, New York, but without the skyscrapers.. The Aleut name is Ounalashka and means “near the peninsula”. But the fishing port, and then the town, came to be known as Dutch Harbor or simply Dutch because at some point int he 1800’s a Dutch ship was said to be the first to anchor there. There is a permanent population of around 4,500 swelling up to 9,000 to 10,000 in the high season (for fish processing).

2. The Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor in 1942 and invaded two outlaying islands – Attu and Kiska. The two day attack killed 43 and wounded 50. . The two facts that stand out to me is that following the attack we built a runway in nine days that is still being used today (Happy 4th of July!). The sad fact is that following the attack, we evacuated the entire native population of the island. As you could imagine, the Unangan did not fare well. https://www.ci.unalaska.ak.us/community/page/world-war-ii-aleutians

3. Dutch Harbor continues to be the nation’s top fishing port in terms of volume of seafood landed for the 26th consecutive year (613.5 million pounds!). Top takes are Salmon (all 5 types), Pacific Cod, King Crab, Halibut, Rockfish, Sable Fish, and Atka Mackerel.  But by dollar value, New Bedford, Mass was top (hard to compete with lobster). What makes Dutch Harbor so legendary among fisherman is its location straddling the North Pacific and the Bering Sea.

4) Dutch Harbor is home to the crab fisherman made famous on “The World’s Deadliest Catch” as they make their way deep in the Bering Sea in search of King and Japanese Snow Crab. “Alaskan crab fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, the U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopters stationed at Integrated Support Command Kodiak (Kodiak, Alaska) and their outpost on St. Paul Island, near the northern end of the crab fishing grounds, are frequently shown rescuing crab boat crew members who fall victim to the harsh conditions on the Bering Sea.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadliest_Catch#:~:text=The%20base%20of%20operations%20for,with%20this%20line%20of%20work.

Not much else to report guys. We should make landfall at 0530 – it’s 0100 now. Randall already awake and worrying about the shoals we will pass. It’s going to be a long, rest of the night.