Sayville
by Brianna Lusher
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The boat burning! There were two boats donated this year.
Photo credit: myself
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Today, Coastal Cultural Experience got to go to the Boat Burning Festival in Sayville. It was incredibly fun to watch, and there were tons of Long Islanders there, too. However, since the boats couldn’t be lit before dark, we partook in some fun activities in the meantime. Since I plan on going into conservation as a career, one of the most interesting things I was taught on this trip was about oysters, particularly Blue Point Oysters. We all sat on the dock, and Kurt explained to us the history of these oysters. They were very famous and sought after all over the world, but were severely overfished due to their popularity. Tara told us that they were so popular, other people tried to join in on the money making and would catch oysters anywhere, dip them in Great South Bay, then sell them as Blue Point Oysters. This became such a common practice, that they had to make a law that said that oysters had to have lived in the bay for at least 3 months before being considered as Blue Point Oysters. In addition to their overfishing, they weren’t really permitted to reproduce because their shells, which provided a place for new oysters to grow on, were not returned to the sea, therefore removing their habitat. However, their populations are now generally improving, due to laws preventing the over extraction of these oysters.
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Oyster boats on the harbor, near the entrance to Great South Bay.
Photo credit: myself
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Another activity we did while waiting for the boat burning to begin was our own version of scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is an artistic pastime that sailors used to do to keep their hands busy that consisted of carving designs into whale bone, and filling these designs with Indian ink. However, since whale bone is illegal and India ink can be messy for travel and otherwise, we used candles as a whale bone replacement and black chalk for an ink replacement. Many of them were beautifully made, as several people in our class have a bit of artistic talent.
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The beautiful salt marsh right off Great South Bay.
Photo Credit: myself |
It was an incredibly fun day, that I even saw some students that went there to see the boat burning. It’s definitely a sight to see with these large wooden boats burning and collapsing in on themselves, when not too long ago they were running and functional boats.
Sayville
by Valerie Sabatasso
This week, the Semester by the Sea students visited the Maritime Museum in Sayville and attended the annual Boat Burning Festival.
We began our trip by taking a look inside The Bayman’s cottage on the Sayville property. This small living quarters contains original furniture from the 1800’s, including the iron stove seen here. On the bottom left is a bathtub used during this period. Most families had a tub this size to ensure minimal water usage. Adults would bathe first, followed by their children. Here, they would also iron their clothes (iron in the center) and wash them using a washing board (not shown).
The next stop on our trip was to the museum’s exhibit: Wrecks,
Wretched, and Rescuers. The true stories displayed occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries. I took particular interest in the small
exhibit on pirates. Here, there is a sign that reads “No mercy did we ever show, for dead men tell no tales.” In order to avoid liability, pirates would often take everything they could from the ships they plundered and would kill everyone on board to ensure no witnesses would ever talk. This exhibit also showed information on Captain William Kidd, who made a deal to bury treasure on Gardiner’s Island. He was eventually captured and his treasure (worth one million today) was recovered. But did they find all of it?
Before the festival began, we walked around one building that held boats donated by the original owners. Carlin seems to particularly like this boat. We then made our way to the docks to talk about oysters. The mini lecture took an interesting turn as we began to discuss gentlemen callers. During this time period, men would travel to young ladies’ homes and attempt to win her heart. Although they often sat back to back, the young man would be sown neck-high into a blanket and put in the young lady’s bed. Of course, young women knew how to sew and would free their caller to enjoy the night and sew him back up before the morning. Apparently, there were many expectant brides.
The night ended with the (safe) burning of two old boats. The entire crowd gathered around and watched as fire engulfed the two structures and slowly took them down. It was a bit chilly that night and the fire warmed up the crowd. It was a beautiful sight and a great trip.
“This boat is on fire”
by Riley O’Connor
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| In an annual tradition, the Long Island Maritime museum burns vessels. This year two cabin cruisers were chosen. |
It’s not every day one sees a boat lit on fire, weather purposefully or on accident. It satisfies many people’s need to experience destruction. This past Friday in Sayville the West Sayville Fire Department and the Long Island Maritime Museum, they did just that. The lit not one but two boats on fire. These were two older wooden vessels that were being burned to be written off on their insurance.
Sayville is a hamlet in the town of Islip with the Great South Bay on the south and Bohemia to the north. Sayville’s history comes from the presence of lumber and oysters; the former we have talked about extensively in class. In the 1800’s limber was extremely important and one of the many uses was for shipbuilding. Today Sayville is a major artery to the Fire Island National Seashore. Most of Fire Island is cut off from Long Island, but how do people get to their, mostly summer, homes. During the months of May to October, people get to and from Fire Island via an extensive network of ferries, most of which leave from Sayville.
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| The entrance to the Long Island Maritime Museum |
Sayville is also home to the Long Island Maritime Museum. IT is home to three separate buildings, each dedicated to a part of maritime history related to Long Island. One for boat building and recreational boating, one for shellfish harvesting, and the main building dedicated to lifesaving at sea.
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| Many small fishing, sailing, and recreational vessels are housed in this building |
One building that really caught my interest was the large building dedicated to the boats. I found the building itself of the most interest. It was build in 1916 and was originally a hanger. When the US entered World War I, Naval Air Station Bay Shore was established. The building originally housed seaplanes that were used during the war.
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Originally used to house seaplanes, the “hangar” is now used as a museum exhibit depicting many different small craft from the area.
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