Sayville Maritime Museum and Boat Burning
by Ethan Idler
Today, our class visited the Sayville Maritime Museum in Sayville, NY. We explored the various

Figure 1: Ship’s Wheel at the entrance of the Boating Library in the Sayville Maritime Museum

museums and exhibits on the grounds, which were all fun and interesting, but what I was most excited for was to occur after sundown, the Boat Burning Festival. This year was the 23rd annual Boat Burning, which is held on the grounds of the museum and is one of the defining events of the Fall season in the area. The town runs a festival where a donated wooden boat is burned, accompanied by delicious food and live music.

Figure 2: Deep Fried Oreo Goodness

The festival has been a tradition in Sayville for 23 years, but it seems to be one that is based on a much older Norse tradition of a Viking boat burning. Vikings used to burn their ships in honor of the passing of one of their fellow brethren. The deceased was laid in a boat and given offerings that matched his earthly status and profession. Then, a pyre was constructed and the ship was set out into the water and set aflame.

While I consumed by deep fried Oreos and piping hot chocolate, which were helping me fight the cold, the flames from the burning boat radiated the occasional wave of warmth through the brisk night air. The bright blaze could be seen well, Even over the large crowd of people that had tunred out for the fun event. While I was standing there surrounded by fun, friends and deep fried food, I thought to myself, “This is better than I had imagened, and it’s just one more addition to the best semester I have had yet!”

Figure 3: The Burning of the Boat outside the Sayville Maritime Museum

Sayville Maritime Museum & Boat Burning
by Jaclyn Vendittelli

Figure 1 Breeches buoy was the formation of life saving stations.  They were originally manned by volunteers but eventually became a profession.  The lines were shot from a cannon, with a weight attached, into the rigging of the wrecked ship. Along with the breeches buoys life cars were also used to rescue people from sinking ships.

Figure 2 These are examples of boat models.  Merchants to help them sell their boats created these.  Since it was not worth it for them to create actual sized models they made miniature replicas in order to make sure the boat worked properly.  The models were then shown to buyers and once purchased were made into larger scale vessels.

Figure 3 Sayville is known for their blue point oysters and was said to have their “streets paved with oysters”.  This was a very profitable market. To be considered a blue point oyster they had to be in the waters for at least three months.  The oyster populations were decimated by the Long Island Express hurricane.  The storm caused changes in salinity that destroyed the populations.  In 1861 poaching was a major problem for blue oysters.  The oysters were stolen at night because of their value.

Figure 4 Shows a 19th century home (bottom right).  There is a lot of wood paneling inside with high celling’s and doorways.  Inside the kitchen there was a stove (top left) and a washing station (top right).  The kitchen also had a cookbook that cost $2.00 then (bottom left), which now would be approximately $20.00.  This cookbook would be used for entertaining to ensure they made the proper meals for the time.

Sailboats at the Long Island Maritime Museum
by Michaela Miller

This past Friday I had the pleasure of going to the Long Island Maritime Museum in Sayville. Among the main exhibit that featured model boats and equipment once used to rescue passengers from sinking ships, there was a building filled with sailboats (pictured above). All boats in the warehouse were designed and built in the late 1800s, early 1900s, and used for oyster harvesting in the Great South Bay. The reason that sailboats with flat bottoms were used for that trade was due to the shallowness of the Great South Bay; it was simply too shallow to allow larger boats, or those with engines to navigate through. To see the craftsmanship and beauty of the boats that are still in great condition, over 100 years later, was an incredible delight. (And frankly it fuels my desire to have a sailboat!)

Long Island Maritime Museum’s 23rd Annual Halloween Boat Burning
by Tom Lannon

Upon arriving to the Long Island Maritime Museum, in Sayville we first explored the museum itself. The museum consisted of different smaller buildings spread over a big property. The main exhibit had some old maritime artifacts as well as the gift shop. Some of the other buildings included the boat hanger filled with many old workboats, as well as a 17th century themed home. Two other buildings included the ship creation building, and a building based off of the historic oyster harvest and tools used for it in the past. This large property full of rich maritime history was capped off with the burning of a boat. A tradition previously started in years past to make the boat unusable by anyone else. For whatever reason the boat was to be burned, it was better to burn it than rather see it stolen and used by someone else (pirates!).

Front entrance of the Long Island Maritime Museum. We can see how elegant and devoted the museum is just by some of the structures and flags in front of it.

Here you can see the beautiful sunset, setting just before the boat on the bottom left of the photo was to be burned. This photo also shows how the preservation of land is true beauty.

USLSS
by Colleen O’Day

Today we took a trip to Sayville, a town with a very rich history famous not only for its oysters but also for its innovations in ship wreck rescues. The United States Life Saving Service (or USLSS) was originally started in Massachusetts but spread through New England and down to Long Island in an effort to save ship wrecked sailors. Long Island was known to exacerbate and cause ship wrecks in order to smuggle and rob goods, but as a whole the looters tried to save the sailors on board ships. This ideology is what led them to create their life saving inventions. One of the inventions created is called a life car. The life car is a metal vessel shaped like a boat with a domed roof. It would be rigged up on a series of pulley ropes leader from the wrecked ship down to the shore where the rescue team was stationed. The crew of the ship would pull the life car to their boat and one to two men would fit inside. Though the ride was dark and often hazardous because the car would go underwater for a period, it proved to be a rather effective means of saving sailor stranded in shallower waters. The life car has enough air in it to last 15 minutes without any openings, thus making the life car nearly water tight. Of course some water could get in, but wet clothes are certainly a better alternative than drowning.

The life car and life boats could only be used in relatively calm waters, however. If the seas became a bit rougher, rescuing ship wrecked men could be dangerous, but of course the USLSS had a solution for that problem as well: the breeches buoy. The breeches buoy is a simple rope and pulley based device much like the life car but much lighter, easier to manage, and safer in rougher waters. The device consists of a cork ring to make it buoyant in water, an a breech canvas holster shaped like pants. The person being saved slips into the buoy almost like putting on a pair of pants and it hoisted through the air from the ship to the shore. Only one person could be saved at a time but it was a fast method of getting people out of danger. Today the cork ring part is replaced with life rings like those found on all boats and ships. The breeches buoy is still used to this day to save people from ship wrecks and also to transport people out of harm’s way.

Until next time,
Colleen O’Day

CCE Blog
by Geoff Winger

On our trip to the Long Island Maritime Museum at Sayville, we saw many artifacts and also toured several buildings on the property. One of the more fascinating buildings we explored was the original William Rudolph Oyster House. The house was built in 1890 and became very successful following the growth of the oyster industry in the early 20th century. Sayville eventually became famous for its Blue Point Oysters. Unfortunately, in 1938 a massive hurricane known as the Long Island Express came through the area and decimated the south shore oyster beds of Great South Bay and the area never fully recovered.

The Rudolph Oyster House was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building remains authentic to the time period and is known as the only surviving structure from the Blue Point Oyster industry in Great South Bay. The structure has actually been moved about 600 feet from its original position because it would have otherwise been demolished.

The interior of the oyster house remains outfitted with many of the tools and aesthetics of the time. This picture shows a pile of opened oyster shells. When the industry was booming, piles such as these would have been much bigger. Opening the oysters would have been the final step in a long, arduous process of cultivation.