Oomiak building in 1905
 

http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~scanlach/ArcticIce.html

This is a historic novel about a ship that voyages to above
the Arctic circle in 1905-1906. It is based on an unpublished
memoir or journal of one of the crewmen.

There's one place in the book where the sailor is told
how to build an oomiak (that's how it was spelled in
the book). He was at Pt. Hope, AK at the time.

The sailor's descriptions of weather, whale hunts, and native
culture are thrilling and, in some cases, wild.

There sure was a bunch of stuff going on up there a 100
years ago: murders and kidnappings, not to mention the
weather and info about the captains and ships of the
whaling fleet.

Josephi