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Barrow / Utqiagvik, Alaska (U.S.)

North Slope Borough

Barrow / Utqiagvik
Whaling crews in Utqiagvik

See also:

Barrow

The city of Barrow (renamed Utqiagvik, 4,581 inhabitants in 2008, 55.2 sq.km), located on the northern coast of Alaska, is the northernmost city of the USA.

Whaling flags

The native Inupiat people have maintained traditional whaling, which is authorized with strictly defined quotas aimed at preserving the resource. A TV-report (Arte, 2009) on whaling in Barrow shows two flags of interest.

image by Ivan Sache, 15 August 2010

The flag used by the Quvan Crew whalers to "label" their catch until they can retrieve it is dark blue with two white Latin crosses on top and the white writing "QUVAN / CREW", on bottom. The flag is shown on a photo published on the "Native Village" website, together with other photos of Quvan Crew in operation.
www.nativevillage.org

image by Ivan Sache, 15 August 2010

The second flag shown in the TV-report is hoisted over the hut where all the members of the community are invited to share the whale lunch. The flag is made of three "concentric" blue, white and red rectangles. It seems to be a rectangular version of the "W" flag of the International Code of Signals, most probably here for "Whale".
Ivan Sache, 15 August 2010

After seeing several other flags related precisely to fishing activities, especially those observed during local holidays such as the blanket toss in Utqiagvik, a traditional Inupiat celebration held in June to mark the end of the spring whaling season, I consider the flags below to be most likely Captain's flags or crew's flags. They tend to have one or two festival dates scheduled during any given summer, planned around a whale hunt, but the first part of the festival is usually around solstice, or June 24-25. Following the feast and distribution of whale meat to all the Native families at "Nalukataq", the blanket toss takes place. For tradition the Captains and their wives go first, distributing goods like tobacco, clothing and tools as well as candy for those who toss the blanket. Utqiaġvik has anywhere from twenty-five to forty-five crews registered in any given year.

The flags are usually used on the umiaq (skin-covered kayak), but also are seen during the Nalukataq festivities (e.g. https://www.facebook.com/tundraberrybyJoniEdwardsen/videos), as well as outside the Captain's house, etc. The flags below are not only those spotted at the Nalukataq celebration but also on boats in action. The flags are in chronological order so as to see whether crews are active over the years.

Esteban Rivera, 9 February 2026

images located by Esteban Rivera, 9 February 2026