Pierless Blog - 2026-06-05 Collison Bay - Anthony Island / SGang Gwaay Cultural Site

June 5th - Friday 7:45 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. - 44 Nm Traveled 

We had a good rest Thursday afternoon and an uneventful sleep last night, so were feeling refreshed this morning.  Among our top locations to visit while here in Gwaii Haanas was the cultural site SGang Gwaay (Ninstints) on Anthony Island.  From Collison Bay we will head south toward Rose Harbor then cross over to Anthony Island.  This will be a round trip day where we go to Anthony and return back to Collison Bay for the night.

SGang Gwaay is an uninhabited UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve.  It is renown for its spectacular collection of mortuary and memorial totem poles.  Historically, this was a thriving hub of the Haida people.  More than 20 memorial poles carved from cedar trees stand facing the sea.  The village was decimated during the smallpox epidemic and was abandoned in 1878.

Leaving Collison for Anthony Island / SGang Gwaay

We raised anchor at 7:45 and began our trip south.  There was no wind, but the sun was out so we raised the staysail to allow it to dry.  At Anthony Island, we will need to anchor and paddle to shore, so we hauled the dinghy out of the cabin and Dave set to work getting it inflated and ready to use.  

Dave taking us south

Turning west on the north side of Kunghit Island, we pass Rose Harbour.  This is an old whaling station, closed for many years and currently the only privately owned land within Gwaii Haanas.  There are few residents today.  The community works with tour groups and private travelers to prepare meals in their dining cabin.  If you are a private traveler, you might score a seat at the table for a wonderful meal.

Route from Collison to Anthony Island

Passing Rose Harbour, we turned SW toward the west coast and Anthony Island.  There are two anchorages which can be used to visit SGang Gwaay.  On the west side is an anchorage with a mooring ball.  The route in is a little tricky and access to the trail across the island can be difficult at low tide.  I decided to go to Grays Cove on the east side.  It is closer and also quite near the village site.  Upon arrival I began to doubt my choice!  It was quite small and rock with some wind and wave action to pay attention to.  After scouting it a bit, we dropped the anchor with limited scope.  It held, so we prepped the dinghy for Dave to go ashore.  I chose to stay onboard due to the exposed nature of the anchorage.  Dave rowed to shore and I stayed with Pierless and made lunch.

Dave rowing into shore at SGang Gwaay

Lunch on the boat

I watched Dave go in and later saw him emptying his boots of water on the shore.  I thought he must have had to wade in a bit and filled his boots.  The truth is Dave's story...

Pierless at anchor - Anthony Island

The trip back to Collison Bay was uneventful.  We passed close to Rose Harbour to have another look.  We were able to motor-sail some of the way to save fuel.

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This is Dave. All of the other blog posts have been written by Brian. You'll soon see why I needed to write this one.

We started the day in Collison Bay near the southern edge of Moresby Island. Our destination was the village of SGang Gwang on Anthony Island to south and west.  The village name is pronounced: Aas Gua Gway.  It's one of the very few villages with totem poles that are still standing since the small pox plague of the 1800s. SGang Gwang is a Unesco world heritage site.  I was about to find out why it deserves the designation.

The Haida have a proud history of protecting what's theirs.  They honored that history when they found the Canadian government was overharvesting the forests on the south side of Haida Gwai.  They resisted fiercely and won protection in the form of a national park, named Gwai Haanas.  Later when the number of visitors to the park increased they realized that they needed to protect their historic site from vandalism and outright pilfering of artifacts.  They organized the Haida Watchmen, men and women who stay in the historic sites in the park and escort visitors while they see the amazing monumental artwork that still remains there.

This was to be our first visit to a site protected by Haida Watchmen. We motored and motor-sailed for just less than 6 hours. When we arrived there was a bit of ocean swell with breaking wave on the nearby shore. Following protocol, we hailed the Watchmen on VHF channel 6. They seemed surprised when we told them we were planning to anchor south of the village but they agreed to meet us on the beach.

After we anchored, Brian decided he wasn't comfortable enough with the anchor hold to leave the boat.  He told me to go ahead alone.  I started rowing the dinghy to the small beach.  As I approach the shore, I could see that I would have to row through breaking waves to land on the beach.  I mis-timed my stokes and ended up sideways to the waves.  The dinghy capsized and I was completely submerged in the water.  Almost immediately I found my footing and was able to drag the dinghy out of the water and up the beach.  I was wearing an inflatable life jacket but didn't need to deploy it.  Looking back toward the boat I saw the two hats I was wearing bobbing in the waves out of reach.  I also noticed that Brian had missed seeing the drama.

After dumping out my rubber boots and wringing out my socks and shirts, I was able to brush off the water and reassemble my clothes.  I started looking around the cove to see if the Watchmen had arrived.  I couldn't see them so I climbed up some nearby rocks to see if they were on the other side.  They weren't.  I looked back to the original beach and found two watchmen, a man and a woman sitting on a rock looking and smiling at me.  I told them about my mishap, but I assured them that I was warm enough to continue.

We learned from the online class that we took that Watchmen are not required to be tour guides, but that some like to explain things.  I was lucky.  The male Watchman was happy to be a guide.  He said that he is taking an immersion class to learn the Haida language and has read a lot of books on Haida art and culture.  He has also spoken to elders and other knowledge keepers and he loves to share his knowledge. 

The first place we came to was the home site of a high status person.  You could tell his status by the fact that the house was dug into the ground several feet.  He mentioned that the walls would have been make of cedar planks with tongue and groove joints connecting them to beams.  Because of the labor it took to make planks, they were considered very valuable.

We moved on to the totem poles.  There are 8-10 mortuary poles still standing.  When they were erected, these poles held the remains of prominent Haida.  The remains were placed in decorated bentwood and mounted on the tops of the poles.  There are more standing poles in SGang Gwang than there are in any other village in Gwaii Haanas Park.  The poles are exquisitely and deeply carved. Many of the original details are still visible.  When the pole inevitably falls or breaks, the soul of the honored person is released.  While talking about each of the poles, he told a short version of a story about a woman who became a bear woman and gave birth to three children who were able to shape shift between human and bear form.  The story was depicted on several poles.

As my Watchmen guide explained more about the poles, I came to see that the poles can communicate rich information across time in ways other than the carvings when combined with ancient knowledge of Haida culture and history, most of which is preserved by Haida knowledge keepers. For example, one pole was erected a short distance away from the others.  The Watchman explained that the person honored there was not from the village.  The carvings on it were not as symmetrical and beautiful as the other poles. It's the last pole ever installed at SGang Gwang, and was probably carved by apprentice carvers after the master carvers died from smallpox.

On another pole the Watchman guide showed me a musket hole, and explained how some of the poles looked undecorated, but when examined closely you could see that nails had been attached to hold copper shields, which were stores of wealth.  Some of the totems were partially burned but still standing.  The Watchman believes that they were set on fire as the village was abandoned during the smallpox plague to warn others that the village was not safe visit.  He thinks the poles would have all burned but perhaps a rain storm hit and put the fire out.

I took a class at the University of Washington on Northwest coast indian art, but I learned in my two hour visit more than I did in that whole class.  The last place we visited was the chief's house, which included a story of how that chief lost his hereditary role by stealing a coat from a British captain.  From that vantage point we could see the whole village and the back of the totem poles.  The Watchman pointed out that the totem poles were mounted upside down from the point of view of the trees they were carved from. They were visibly skinnier at the bottom than the top.  This way when viewed from the ground the perspective is more balanced.

I was deeply moved by the site and the generosity of my hosts.

[ Photos to follow ]