What will the Alaskan Arctic look like in another 40 years? Rachel, great post! I will have to catch this flick, but the actual memories from those on the scene, and these reflections of one engaged in the science, will probably stick with me more. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content. The film stars Drew Barrymore, who plays a Greenpeace activist, and John Krasinski, a television reporter covering the story.
Photo: Craig George Over three weeks, the rescue effort grew from local to international. Several times, we had to move camp. I did not put the camera down, though. I kept it with me and every now and then lifted it above my bursting lungs and tried to get a frame off.
This effort would completely fall apart in the pressure ridges, where I stumbled and fell a couple of times. Once, I struggled to get back on my feet — retching, feeling like I was heaving up my guts altogether. I got no mercy from George. A human shock absorber! It was hard. I did not want to swing a pick. I did not want to run with the boat; I wanted to take pictures, which is hard enough even when you are not swinging a pick — but, just like a young boy, I had to earn my right to be in camp.
I learned things I would never have known if I had not undergone all the different tasks that George put me through. I first went out with George in the spring of , on a freelance assignment for We Alaskans, the no longer published Sunday magazine of the Anchorage Daily News. I wanted to document the efforts of a single whaling captain and crew to bring in a bowhead. So I had to find a crew — but whose crew?
In the spring of , I had no crew to follow, so I basically stayed on land but kept my ears peeled as to what was happening on the ice. When I would hear that a crew had struck and landed a whale, I would seek out a snowmachine ride and then head for the landing site.
This happened two or three times, and each time the butchering process was well under way by the time I got there. Then, the final alloted strike of the season was made. A good lady by the name of Sally Brower let me ride on her sled and she drove me to the site where Jonathan Aiken, Sr. The whale was pulled out of the water even as we approached. I jumped off the sled as Kunuk climbed atop the whale with two of his tutaliks — his grandsons. I shot this picture.
I quickly ascertained that Kunuk was a quiet, humble, man — gentle and kind. I knew his was the crew I wanted to follow. I made the request of Kunuk — that he let me follow his crew. Soon, final preparations for the spring hunt of 87 were under way. This meant they would be going down to the ice within an hour or so. So, feeling very depressed, I went over to get some candy and to see the crew off. Maybe, if I did so respectfully and without complaint, and then Kunuk thought about it for another year, he might take me in.
When I arrived. Kunuk and all his crew were dressed in their hunting parkas, with their bright, freshly sewn, white covers. Kunuk looked at me through dark sunglasses that gave me no hint of what was happening in his eyes. Here is Kunuk, pulling the umiak as his crew follows. Whalers like the east wind, but not the west. The east wind keeps the pack-ice separated from the shorefast ice — it holds the lead open. The west wind blows the pack ice back to the shorefast ice and closes the lead.
Inupiat hunters came to help cut bigger holes in the ice through the whales, using their significant knowledge of the area and the ice. Inupiat hunters living in and around Barrow, cut a path through the sea ice with chain saws. In this picture, Withrow center is checking on the whales. He said that during the rescue, "we didn't know why this had captured the whole world's attention, but all eyes were on us.
Experts move sea ice out of the way for the two surviving gray whales during 's Operation Breakthrough, as the mission was called. One of the three original whales did not survive the rescue attempt. One of the gray whales can be seen here popping up through a breathing hole in the ice.
Reddit Pocket Email Linkedin. Grid View. A scene from "Big Miracle," a film about the rescue of a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Universal Pictures John Krasinski, left, and Drew Barrymore in a scene from "Big Miracle," a film about the rescue of a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
Universal Pictures, Darren Michaels. As for Nathan, it's a coming-of-age story that Kwapis says is compelling to young and old alike. Email: calexander desnews. Mitt Romney says young people are key With a stroke of Gov.
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