RECREATION: Blessing of the Fleet at Montauk Harbor

The Blessing is taking place at the end of the Town Dock aboard the USCG Cutter RIDLEY. Boats line up in the Lake and pass by to receive a blessing for a good season from local clergymen. It is not only a memorial for the local fishermen, deckhands, and captains of private, charter, and commercial boats, but also a celebration of the summer fishing season. Boats continue out into Block Island Sound where they are later met by The USCG and memorial wreaths are cast into the sea to commemorate the lives of any members of the fishing community that may have passed in the previous year. This summer tradition began in Montauk in 1955.