Seine skiffs?

[thudpucker]

Originally Posted by TollyWally

Didn't Hamm have something to do with the early Russian hulls?

George Hamm made a lot of specialty boats for the Cook inlet fishery.
He made the mistake of hiring a couple of young Russian kids from the Russian village at Kasiloff and they began to build a pretty equal looking copy of Hamm's Cook Inlet fishing boat in the "Bow Picker" and "Stern netter" design.

Seine skiffs had a reason for Dry stacks. I think it might have had something to do with the obnoxious way they rolled while man-handling that long net in a big circle. It was a job for the Skiff-man to keep the boat from sliding because the net was trying to shorten the arc.
The Skiff would lean under or roll over....more like a job for an 18 yr old kid who liked the wild ride.

The last Russian village that I know about at the geographic location of Kasilof, 60.335274; -151.233594, was before 1800. I believe you are talking about some villagers of Nikolaevsk, about 20 miles north of Homer. Same effect, tho. George didn't want to be in production, anyway, and the Russians were about the only ones wanting those hideous things - and them, only 'cause they could build them themselves.

[thudpucker]

Mark you caught me in an old memory. Ninilchik is what us whites call the Russian village. Kasiloff is way up the inlet from Ninilchik.

Hideous? I wish I had a photo.
His hulls had a nice bow flare and had a great reputation for handling quartering waves out in that inlet. I would have had one but settled for less.

PS: If the economy hadn't have gone sour, I'd still be your neighbor.

[TollyWally]

To my eye the worst thing about the first gen. Russian boats were the gaudy colors and the dingle balls in the wheelhouse. And they were kind of slow. What were some of the names of Hamm's hulls that fished the Inlet besides the russian boats?

From what I hear the russians that are there now are not old time Alaskans but relative newcomers. Leaving Russia to be able to practice their religion they had a very interesting trip before they hit Cook Inlet. I believe the last place they were before the Inlet was Oregon.

[thudpucker]

I think the ones in Cook inlet are relatives of the bunch that came with Baronoff, and stayed.

Actually, you are both correct but you can tell them apart because the Baronoff ones are mixed native blood (it started with a Russian expedition with the German William Steller) and the new ones wear the different clothes as part of their religion. These guys, the new ones, were driven to Manchuria by persecution - bad decision, as they were persecuted more. From Manchuria, Brazil. There they couldn't find a way to make ends meet...on to Woodburn, Oregon, then Alaska. Now and again, they get in a fight about how long their beard should be or if the young can marry outside of the church or who the organ player should be (Like our Baptists!) and they start a new village. Funny thing, one Ivan Reutov related when Obama won the election, "Dang it - This is why we left Russia!"
Hey, do me a favor and read Where the Sea Breaks it Back by Corey Ford, Amazon. Anybody who cares about the history of this place (it's about Steller) will love this simple, eye-opening book.

[TollyWally]

The oldtimers look like natives but have Russian names, no beards except maybe a wispy goatee every now and then. The newcomers are quite well bearded, sashed, shawled, braided,embroidered and old timey looking. They all drive the same type of rigs with identical accesseries. The native versions dress like every one else and drive a wide assortment of different rigs. The two groups don't appear to be kin what so ever.