Arts and Entertainment

Strong images don't quite rescue scattershot account of Arctic icebreakers

Images of America: Icebreaking Alaska

By Capt. Jeffrey D. Hartman, USCG (Retired), Arcadia Publishing, 128 pages, 2014, $21.99

It's been well publicized that the sea ice over the Arctic Ocean has receded at an accelerated pace in recent years, and that this has brought an exponential increase in maritime traffic to a region where only the hardiest ships and seamen once ventured. Less discussed is how woefully underprepared the United States is for the multiple challenges now converging on our Arctic coastline. So if we ever needed a book exploring the history of American sovereignty over our Arctic waters and the importance of solidifying it, now would be the time.

"Icebreaking Alaska" by retired U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey Hartman is an earnest effort to correct this oversight. It's a useful but somewhat convoluted work that makes an important point, albeit not as well as it could have.

Part of an ongoing series of books titled "Images of America," "Icebreaking Alaska" is primarily a pictorial book intertwined with historical and political objectives. Hartman has compiled many old photographs and a few current ones, giving readers an idea of the trajectory of the federal government's activities along Alaska's northern coast. Unfortunately, the photos aren't arranged chronologically, nor are their dates provided. The collection also veers rather haphazardly from topic to topic, often without any obvious underlying logic. Lacking a cohesive narrative thread, the message sometimes gets buried.

This shortcoming is furthered by some poor editing as well as unclear photo captions. The same problem hobbles several of the one-page introductions that lead off each chapter.

For example, Hartman repeatedly discusses the long search for the Northwest Passage, but neglects to mention it by name until late in the book. Adding to the confusion, he describes it as a shortcut, but never tells us from where to where. Readers unfamiliar with northern history could very well not know it runs from Europe to Asia over the top of North America. He should have told them. The caption on a photo of Port Townsend Bay doesn't identify it as being in Washington State rather than Alaska, something readers unfamiliar with the geography of both states might not know either. Elsewhere a dramatic picture of an Arctic rescue lacks a date and location, leaving readers as stranded as the vessel seen in the photo.

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These sorts of things mar the first half of the book considerably, which is unfortunate, because they bracket lively historic pictures of icebreakers doing their work, shots of vessels trapped in sea ice and images of Coast Guard helicopters going where the ships cannot. There are also photos aplenty of Alaska Natives, most of them historic -- but again, the where and when of their taking are missing. Hartman does a good job of addressing Native concerns and the impact Westerners have had on their culture, and also pays well-deserved tribute to the legendary turn-of-the-20th-century Revenue Cutter captain Michael Healy.

Second half better

Things improve considerably in the second half. Hartman was part of the Arctic Wind voyage of the icebreaker Northwind in 1967, and his personal photographs and recollections of that trip comprise the book's strongest chapter. These include depictions of onboard life that will give landlubbers a sense of the daily experience of the author and his shipmates.

The latter part of the book takes up the argument that America needs to restore its icebreaker fleet, which in a few decades has gone from nine active vessels to just two. "There are several reasons why the fleet grew smaller," he explains, "but the primary one is lack of a national resolve to have a realistic national icebreaking capability."

While one ship was returned to service in 2012, he adds, "The United States is still way behind the icebreaker power curve. Russia has 24. The United States needs to do better if it is going to be prepared for all the increased activity that is forecasted for the Arctic."

Vital message

During the Cold War, as Hartman details in this book, icebreakers were vital to patrolling our maritime border with the Soviet Union and for servicing the Distant Early Warning stations that dotted the Arctic coastline of the U.S. and Canada. But when tensions evaporated, America's attention shifted elsewhere and our fleet of icebreakers was largely mothballed.

In the intervening years, the Arctic Ocean has warmed, and Hartman lays out the numerous pressures now coming to bear on it. With more ships plying the waters, safety and crime intervention will become larger concerns. Everything from enforcement of fishing regulations to assisting with navigation to responding to emergencies will be asked of the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, the nearest Coast Guard station is in Dutch Harbor, a minimum of three days' travel. Worse, despite a steep uptick in oil and natural gas exploration, there is little infrastructure for dealing with an offshore spill or other disaster.

This is an important message, one that has largely fallen on deaf ears. Even in this year's race for one of Alaska's U.S. Senate seats, the topic has barely been raised by candidates or voters. Hartman makes a strong case for proactive planning, but a more focused book would have done this better, especially coming from someone with his background. Alaskans and Americans need to think hard about this issue.

Overall, the book is a mixed bag. Visually, it's fun to peruse, with lots of good pictures. The text is less successful, however. Hartman understands his goals but never fully gets them across to readers. It's an important and timely subject. A bit more attention to detail would have helped put it in its proper context.

David A. James is a Fairbanks-based writer and critic.

David James

David A. James is a Fairbanks-based freelance writer, and editor of the Alaska literary collection “Writing on the Edge.” He can be reached at nobugsinak@gmail.com.

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