Preparing a boat for the summer season can be a daunting prospect, from gathering life jackets and coolers to making sure the engine hasn't seized up over the winter. Of course, one mustn't forget the all-important matter of a vessel's spiritual soundness.
For this, there is the Blessing of the Fleet. A yearly tradition since at least 1958, this ceremony takes place on the shores of Lake Montauk, where assembled clergy members bestow blessings on all manner of seafaring vessels. In the early days, beach buggies were also offered a chance to receive a benediction, though that part of the ceremony has since been omitted. The ceremony is traditional in many parts of the world, including Italy and Portugal, from which the Montauk version takes inspiration.
This photograph, taken by Eileen Bock, is from The East Hampton Star's archive. It shows the Rev. Thomas Holmes of the Montauk Community Church and the Rev. John Traynor, rector of St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, granting blessings to a waiting flotilla of pleasure and commercial vessels on June 13, 1983. Among them were ships from the perennially popular Viking Fleet, a fishing charter company that still operates in Montauk.
The blessing that year was sponsored by St. Therese of Lisieux in conjunction with the Montauk Boatmen's Association. The event is a popular one, often drawing as many as 150 ships, and twice that many people if not more.
While the blessing is largely a celebration of boating, sometimes punctuated by water-skiing performances, parties, and water balloon fights, each year there is also a solemn element when a wreath of flowers is tossed into the breakwater to commemorate all those lost at sea, especially fishermen.
Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection.
