On April 27, 2005, eleven-year-old Yolanda Naomi Nowpakahok was aboard an 18-foot skin-covered boat on a traditional whale hunt off St. Lawrence Island when the vessel capsized in the Bering Sea around 2 a.m. The boat was towing a harvested bowhead whale about five to eight miles offshore when the accident occurred. Two crew members were pulled from the water alive; another, James Uglowook, was rescued but later died at the village clinic.

Yolanda, her father Jason Nowpakahok (the 38-year-old mayor of Gambell and the hunt’s captain), and her 11-year-old cousin Leonard Nowpakahok were missing after the capsizing and were not found despite an extensive Coast Guard search. It is common for whaling crews in the region not to wear flotation devices because they can impede the work, and the community described the event as the worst whaling-related accident in recent memory. Yolanda remains officially listed as missing, presumed drowned.

Did anyone in Gambell or nearby communities have information about the night of April 27, 2005?