CREW PROFILE: Joey Mallott

by Sam Low

The Inside Passage is a legendary waterway--often violent and extremely dangerous, about which author Jonathan Rabin wrote this in his recent book, Passage to Juneau: "The water on which NW Indians lived their daily lives was full of danger and disorder; seething white through rocky passages, liable to turn violent at the first hint of a contrary wind, plagued with fierce and deceptive currents. The whirlpool--capable of ingesting a whole cedar tree, and then spitting it out again like a cherry pit--was a central symbol of the sea at large, and all its terrors."

Joey was born in Anchorage, Alaska on June 2nd, 1977 to Byron and Toni Mallott. Through his father, he was also born into the Killer Whale clan of the Eagle moiety of the Tlingit Nation and through his mother into an Athabaskan group of people--more specifically the Koyukon Tribe who lived in the interior of Alaska on the Yukon River.

"I spent most of my summers growing up in small Indian villages," Joey says. "My parents wanted me to have that kind of experience, living in small indigenous communities rather than in big cities."

Joey's father, Byron Mallott, is well known among his people. He was born in a time when it was still probable to see signs posted which said "No Indians and Dogs Allowed." "From a young age he has been motivated from a strong desire to help his people," Joey says, "because he saw a lot of pain among them and the problems of poverty, alcoholism and high rates of illness and early death. He worked hard all his life. When he was only 18 he captained a 56 foot schooner from Washington to Yakutat on the inland passage."

Growing up on this difficult ocean, Byron Mallott learned early to be determined in reaching his goals, either at sea or on land among his people.

As a young man of only 34, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Sea Alaska Corporation, which manages a huge tract of land belonging to native Alaskans, and he used the funds from this enterprise to help lift his people from poverty and depression.

Joey Mallott lived with his grandmother as a boy where he learned many of the same values that have motivated his father. "The day I arrived in her village," Joey says of this experience, "my grandmother handed me a 4/10 gauge shot gun and told me to get dinner. She taught me how to hunt, fish and trap and to live and survive in the outdoors, but more important, her lessons were about patience and kindness and about being open to everyone you meet."

Joey graduated from elementary school and high school in Juneau, Alaska and went on to earn his Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education at the University of the Pacific in 1999. "Life in college was different than the way I was raised," he says of the experience, "I saw a lot of vanity there and selfish acts."

In 1991 Nainoa first traveled to Juneau to meet with Byron Mallott to discuss receiving the gift of two giant spruce trees from the Sea Alaska Corporation to build Hawai`iloa and the two men became fast friends which led to a joining of the Thompson and Mallott families which Joey describes as "one single family." (See "Sacred Forests" about the gift of trees for the hulls of Hawai'iloa.) When Pinky Thompson asked Nainoa to choose an Alaskan representative to journey on at least one leg of the voyage to Rapa Nui Joey was offered the position. "I got the call in 1998," Joey remembers, "and I knew right off that I wanted to go."

In 1999 Joey moved to Hawai`i where he now lives with his girlfriend Lissa Jones in Pauoa Valley on O`ahu. "I wanted to take some time off between college and beginning my teaching career," Joey says, "and we both like the idea of living for a while in the islands. Besides, I have family here now."

The experience of being involved with the building of Hawai`iloa and living in the islands has allowed Joey a deep insight into Hawaiian culture. "I think there is a great deal of similarity between any indigenous culture and how we view the world," Joey says. "That's why Hawaiians and Native Alaskans share so many values. We both respect our elders and believe in taking care of our environment, for example, and we are motivated to recover our native traditions and pride and to bring back our sense of community."

In time, Joey expects to return to Alaska to begin his career as a teacher. When he does he will bring with him a vision inspired by sailing aboard Hokule`a and Hawai`iloa.

"My people were a seafaring people," Joey explains. "When my father was a young boy he saw large dug out canoes which were used for fishing and traveling from village to village. They are still made today, but mainly as works of art, not for sailing. One of the first things I want to do when I get home is start a project to build a traditional canoe in the traditional way."