Launching Nigilax̂

The air was wet with mist and the crashing waves created a rhythm as the traditional vessel of the Unangan people from Unalaska touched the waters of Sandy Cove. The vessel is a large open-skin boat called a nigilax̂ and was launched at the Alaska Native Day celebration in Metini, or Fort Ross in the Pomoan language, over Memorial Day weekend. Alaska Native Day at the fort is held at Metini yearly and was initially organized by an Unangax̂ woman several years ago. This celebration marked the first time in more than 250 years that a nigilax̂ went out to sea.

This nigilax̂ was crafted in Humboldt County at the Mind’s Eye Factory in Ferndale. The lead builder and owner of the factory Marc Daniels-Aygagnax̂ and many others have been envisioning one of these vessels on the water for decades. He wanted to make sure the vessel was not just displayed but used for its purpose by the Unangan people.

“We started off by meeting with Wiyot people and asking for the tribal blessing to begin the project since we’re on Wiyot ancestral lands,” Daniels-Aygagnax̂ said. He received blessings from the tribal government of Saint Paul Island, Alaska, and the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska. At the beginning of the build, Perry Lincoln and his niece, both members of the Wailaki Tribe in Round Valley, sang a song of blessing. 

People from different walks of life gathered on the shore of Sandy Cove in Metini to witness the launch. Indigenous elders from different tribes sat near the nigilax̂ and talked among themselves and with others, further building connections between different Native and non-Native communities.

“The way I feel today is that we are doing right by our ancestors and showing how we are human beings like everybody else. This vessel is a way for our people to express ourselves and our culture,” said Bob Sam, or Shaaguunaasta, a Tlingit elder, councilmember for Sitka, Alaska, and caretaker of the Native cemetery at Metini.

Sam was one of the elders to bless the nigilax̂ before it entered the water, along with elders or representatives of the Wailaki, Kashaya Pomo and the Unangan people, including the mayor of Unalaska and traditional Unangan dancers. According to Sam, Native people are stewards of the land and sea. He believes that when two cultures meet there should be unity rather than disparity.

Centuries ago, all the Unangan people’s nigilax̂ were intentionally destroyed by Russian colonizers who arrived in the Aleutian Islands with extractive intentions. They enslaved many of the Unangax̂ people to take advantage of their superior hunting abilities and took “Unangan women and children hostage, demanding furs in exchange for their lives,” according to the National Institute of Health.

The enslaved Unangan people were forcefully taken on an otter hunt that spanned the continent from Alaska, and down through the Pacific Coast, eventually settling in Metini to build a fur trading station. The Unangan people who were with them made a home for themselves there, thousands of miles from their ancestral homelands of Unalaska.

Daniels-Aygagnax̂ has been practicing Indigenous boat building for 30 years and was first invited to the Pribilof Islands by an Unangax̂ community to build their traditional kayak called an iqyax̂. Daniels-Aygagnax̂ fell in love with the community and the land there. Not wanting to leave, he worked to become a high school shop teacher to stay in the area. This allowed him to continue learning about the Unangax̂ culture and traditional boat building. He formed a kayak club with the intention of getting Indigenous Unangax̂ vessels into the hands of the Native people to be used on the water.

The plan, Daniels-Aygagnax̂ said, was to spend time in each of the 13 Unangan villages in the region, passing on the knowledge of how to build iqyax̂ and teach others to do the same. As a part of the effort, Daniels-Aygagnax̂ created an apprenticeship program for Unangan students, and it was during this time that an Unangax̂ mentor gave him the name Aygagnax̂, the closest translation of which is “one who walks.”

Over time, Daniels-Aygagnax̂ began to dream of crafting the larger nigilax̂ canoes, though the task was daunting because there is little information on the construction of these vessels. Information on the boats was limited to a handful of sketches and references in centuries-old journals. Daniels-Aygagnax̂ was given access to a museum archive in which he discovered two unidentified pieces and realized they were ribs of a nigilax̂. As a builder, Daniels-Aygagnax̂ said these ribs gave him great insight into the construction of these vessels and helped improve his technique.

There was also the challenge of recreating the crafts without access to traditional Unangan materials. According to Daniels-Aygagnax̂, search for wood used in the nigilax̂ started on the beach and was collected in the traditional way, to be used in the curved parts of the boat, such as the bow and stern. Synthetic alternatives to some of the traditionally used materials, like whale baleen and sea lion skin, were used for sustainability purposes. Steel-edged hand tools and power tools that were used also differ markedly from the ivory and stone tools used traditionally.

Kanesia McGlashan-Price was one of the Unangax̂ tribal members who came to see the traditional boat of her people touch the water. She also worked on the nigilax̂ alongside Daniels-Aygagnax̂.

“This was such a monumental moment,” McGlashan-Price said. “I didn’t expect to feel so held by the other Native communities here, and it is so wonderful.”

The nigilax̂ did three separate runs in the water. With a different group aboard each time, but with Daniels-Aygagnax̂ a mainstay at the bow, the boat paddled out to sea and then did a loop around the cove before coming back in. Out in the water, different creatures — like sea lions and sea otters — swam alongside it.

“I am just absorbing the moment and being present,” Daniels-Aygagnax̂ said. “This is a culmination of many years and seeing my dream and other people›s dreams happen is amazing. This is for me and everyone on this beach.”

After the final run, the nigilax̂ was brought to shore, and everyone present made their way up to the fort, where attendees shared food and watched traditional dances performed by a Unangan group.

“I really feel blessed that I could come here and be part of the launching of the nigilax̂,” said Vincent Tutiakoff Sr., mayor of Unalaska and chair of the Ounalashka Village Corporation. “It’s something I’d never thought I’d be able to do, in my lifetime anyway.”

Editor’s Note: Ruby Cayenne’s family has participated in the crafting and launching of the nigilax̂ built at Mind’s Eye Factory.

Ruby Cayenne (she/her/ella) was born and raised in Humboldt County and lives in McKinleyville. She is earning her bachelor’s in journalism at Cal Poly Humboldt and is the news editor and lead designer at El Leñador News. She works with Access Humboldt as a journalist and fellow.

This article appears in Launching Nigilax̂.