Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (July 26/02) - Her captain says when she pulls into port, "It's like Christmas and the Fourth of July rolled into one."

The folks along the North coast welcome the sight of the Pisurayak Kootook each summer with her cargo of food, furniture and other fanciful items from the south.

Captain Mike Whittaker said the sweetest part of his service at NTCL is pulling into port.

"You get a great feeling of fulfilment by delivering all their goods to them," Whittaker said.

"This is a big deal to them. When you show up in the community, they all come out and stand on the dock."

Chief Engineer Gordon Maki said the ship was built for NTCL in 1969 at a Vancouver shipyard and hauled by rail in pieces to Hay River, where it was assembled. Maki said she's powered by two 2,150 horsepower General Motors EMD engines.

Capt. Whittaker lives in Penticton, B.C. but spends his summers piloting the big vessel along the North coast.

"This is my 24th summer," Whittaker said. "I started out here, when I was 19 years old and never looked back."

Assumed the helm in '98

He was a deck hand on the boat in the early '80s and came back as the ship's captain in 1998.

"I love this boat," Whittaker smiles.

When NTCL was purchased by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, the fleet was gradually renamed with Inuit names.

"(The ships) were named after people of European descent and the company thought it was more appropriate if they were named after Inuit people or places," he said.

His ship was renamed to honour an Inuit boy who died on the Martin Hartwell plane crash in 1972.

Name explained

This vessel was named after David Kootook, who's Inuit name was Pisurayak, he explained.

The ship is staffed by a crew of 12 essential personnel which includes a purser, three deck officers, two engineering officers, four deck hands, a mechanical assistant, a cook and a mess person.

She's outfitted with a long list of navigation and communication equipment including two radars, three GPSs, depth sounders, radios, a satellite phone, fax machines and Global Marine Distress Signalling System.

Whittaker said the ship will make four or five trips across the Arctic coast this season, making stops in Sachs Harbour, Holman, Cambridge Bay, some DEW Line sites, Toloyoak, Gjoa Haven and then back to Cambridge Bay.

"The schedule is always changing to fit in with late arrivals or with what the weather is doing," he said.

He said the sailing from Hay River to Inuvik went well, riding a swell all the way to the delta, but they are prepared for all types of weather sailing in the north.

"Through the ice, through the storms, through the shallow water. Whatever it takes to get it there," Whittaker said.