From November of 1969 to June of 1971, Native Americans and their non-Native supporters occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, claiming treaty rights to the island. Alcatraz Island, which had been used around the turn of the 20th century to detain Native people in the San Francisco area, was being considered for transformation into a recreational area in 1969. The Native-led occupation over those 19 months sought to claim rights to the island and challenge a proposed national “termination” policy that would dissolve tribal governance around the United States.

“Seaweed” — one of the first boats used to ferry occupiers to Alcatraz in 1969 — is now housed in Port Townsend Boat Yard and efforts are underway to restore the historic sailboat.

Mike Ferguson, who is currently leading the project, acquired Seaweed approximately two months ago from Seaweed’s previous owners near Brinnon. The boat had fallen into serious disrepair, and in purchasing the boat, Ferguson hoped to begin a restoration project.

Ferguson does not come to the project with a background in sailboats. Instead, he is moved by a desire to carry on the legacy of the Alcatraz Island occupation. “The vision that motivated me (…) is the basic understanding that Seaweed played an instrumental role in a very important moment in Indigenous history in the United States,” he said. “I’ve started to learn that the occupation of Alcatraz is really, really huge in Indian Country and that it sparked a whole wave of Indigenous sovereignty movements.”

With Indigenous Unangaxˇ ancestry from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, Ferguson stated that he did not grow up with much connection to Unangaxˇ communities or culture, and has only recently begun to embrace his roots. For the past few years Ferguson has been studying traditional skin-on-frame vessels, leading him to make several trips to Alaska. Keeping Seaweed in Indigenous hands played into his decision to purchase the boat, he said.

The Alcatraz occupation “was the first (of its kind),” said LaNada War Jack, co-organizer of the 1969 occupation. “It took us awhile to realize that it started a whole period of self determination rather than termination,” she said.

The first Native American student to attend University of California at Berkeley, War Jack was instrumental in coordinating the occupation, and has continued to advocate for Native American rights in years since. She now teaches Indian Law and Tribal Government at Boise State University.

“It’s one continuous fight,” War Jack stated. Getting tribal rights recognized and acknowledged is “still a big problem.”

“This is a country that was born on the genocide of native peoples and I still don’t feel we have had serious conversations as a country about that,” Ferguson said. He hopes that the restoration of the Seaweed in Port Townsend will become a community project that can increase awareness of Indigenous sovereignty movements. 

War Jack is aware of Seaweed’s rehabilitation. “I think it’s really awesome that it (Seaweed) is going to be restored,” she said.

Turning the restoration into a community project, “is the only way it’s going to happen,” Ferguson said. “The kind of support that is needed to start this project is slowly showing up, but I think it will take a lot more community involvement.” Mike Ferguson can be reached at friendsofseaweed@gmail.com

Sophia Lumsdaine is the former editor of the Redhawk Review at Port Townsend High School and a sophomore at George Fox University in Oregon.