Oct 28: Sayville Maritime Museum & Boat Burning

Politics of Long Island's Oyster Industry
by James Loglisci

Long Island’s once thriving oyster industry was the envy of oyster operations up and down the Atlantic coastline. These “Blue Point” oysters were world famous and enjoyed from New York City to the Czar’s palace in Russia. Their existence came the rise of new, faster “Clipper” ships enabling them to reach the market of the Old World and spurring the rise of the ice industry in order to preserve the product. But with this great name, came those who would try to take advantage of it...

World Famous “Blue Point” oyster products.  Also features Long Island clams, an industry overshadowed by the massive efforts of oyster enterprises

Blue Point oysters ready for shipment overseas.  These were a favorite of the Russian Czar.

Baymen from New Jersey would often be found bringing their oyster harvest to the Great South Bay and dipping them in the water for a few minutes in order to pass them off as the world famous “Blue Point” oysters. Naturally, this angered Long Island’s baymen as the integrity of their work and harvest was corroded by these out-of-towners. This led to a secession movement by Long Island’s baymen in order to protect the name of their work. The baymen’s “Rockaway Republic” was soon visited by New York State’s militia and the movement was quelled. However, their attempt to secede was a success in that it brought about New York State defining a “Blue Point” oyster in law as one having grown in the Great South Bay for 3 months. New Jersey’s baymen were also held at bay following the establishment of “Toleration Officers” (a bay patrol) to protect the waters and oyster beds from ne’er-do-wells who would tarnish the Blue Point industry in some way. This would continue the success of Long Island’s Oyster Fishery until 1938 when the Long Island Express hurricane would rip through. The storm created new inlets into the bay and changed the water’s conditions and environment. This, unfortunately, crashed the oyster bed populations resulting in the untimely demise of the Blue Point Oyster.

Former Long Island oyster company sign.  Features the “Blue Point” moniker.

The Great South Bay as seen from Sayville, NY today.  The water conditions no long support massive oyster populations.

Sayville Boat Burning and Oysters
by Peter Larios

Today our class went to the Sayville boat burning and shellfish museum, where we learned about the local history of the region as well as how the waterfront impacted it. One of the main industries not only in Sayville but on the entire south shore of the island was shell fishing, particularly oysters. Oysters in the Great south bay during the 1800’s and early 1900’s, it turns out, were the staple of the shell fishing industry. Known for their abundance and flavor, “Blue Point Oysters” were exported all over the world. Customers not only included royalty in Europe, but presidents and the rich and famous within the U.S. The oysters and the businesses they supported were run primarily by Dutch immigrants, who were also involved in the shell fishing industry back home. The reign of the oysters of Great South Bay, however, would come to an end not only from anthropogenic causes such as overharvesting, but natural causes.

Reasons for the oyster’s demise have to do with their ability to handle different salinities. In the 1931, a massive hurricane opened what is today Moriches Inlet. This increased the salinity of the bay, dramatically decreasing the population of oysters. Other reasons for the decline of the Blue Point oyster include pollution and overharvesting by bay men, scenarios which have taken place in countless estuaries across the U.S. Although the Oyster population and industry declined dramatically to only a few aquaculture operations, the increased salinity led to a population surge of hard clams, which replaced oysters as the dominant shellfish industry until the 1980’s.

Old photographs and relics from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The majority of oystermen were of Dutch ancestry, importing their language and culture into Long Island. Although the oyster industry would eventually decline, it would be replaced by the hard clamming industry.

Old shucking shed near the harbor front. Catches of oysters would be taken here to be shucked and have their meats processed. Shells would often be crushed and used for road work, the ecological value of returning shells to the bay was not yet then realized. Shucking houses such as these would be used year round, and provided the local community with employment in what could have been an impoverished area.

Although catching oysters was commonplace throughout the island, the Great South Bay at the turn of the century had the perfect conditions for cultivating the bivalves. Other popular areas for oysters was New York Harbor, although populations there would decline due to overharvesting. Oysters today, however, can still be found in enough abundance to be fished recreationally.

Buildings such as these were the workplaces of Dutch craftsmen, world renown for their boat building skill. This is where many of the oyster catching and oyster processing vessels were constructed, as well as recreational sailing craft.

View of the Great South Bay from the boat burning festival. Shorelines such as these once supported thriving shell fishing industries. The docks would be lined with ice storage sheds, shucking houses, offices, and unloading stations for the fishing vessels. Although the industry has collapsed for a variety of reasons, its legacy still stands strong on the south shore.

Sayville Boat Burning
by Lila Glansberg

As the sun sets on the salt marsh in Sayville, a crowd gathers for one of the most popular events of the season—the Boat Burning. People come from all over the Island for this iconic event that features food trucks, live bands, and Long Island’s largest bonfire. As we waited for the event to begin, the class was able to tour the grounds of the Long Island Maritime Museum, practice tying Bowline knots, and warm our hands with hot chocolate and coffee.

While the history of the Boat Burning is loosely based on the tradition of the Viking funeral, there is certainly more of a highlight on Long Island’s maritime history and traditions. The museum sits right on the water of Great South Bay, and spectators arrive by land and sea alike. This is an annual event held by the museum, and each year someone donates a large wooden boat that is beyond repair to be set on fire by the Sayville fire department. To bring things full circle, the museum also raffled off a beautiful wooden kayak. A few of us entered the raffle, but, sadly, we left without a boat strapped to the top of the van.

Here’s the boat just before it was set on fire. The fire department seemed to be inspecting it with flashlights before eventually lighting it with bright red flares. At this point, all of the children in the crowd (and some of the adults) were keeping a steady chant of “light the boat! Light the boat!”

This picture was taken 4-5 minutes after the previous one. We were all surprised at how quicly the boat caught, but also a little disappointed that the wind was blowing the much needed heat in the wrong direction. It took a little less than an hour for the entire boat to turn to ash.

Photo credit: Jessica Massaro. A beautiful day ended by an exciting night. We all had a great time snacking on hot donuts and grilled cheese provided by the assembled food trucks, dancing to the live bands, and learning about the maritime history of Long Island. I’m sure many of us will be back for this event next year!

Sayville Marlinspike Lessons
by Alexandra Bonecutter

There are many basic skills any good sailor should know better than the back of his or her own hand before stepping foot onto a vessel… This week’s coastal cultural experience was set in Sayville, as the community continued with its yearly boat burn bonfire tradition. With a heavy maritime theme, we also enjoyed a quick lesson on the role of oyster harvesting throughout human history and our efforts today in improving their ecosystem functions right here in Great South Bay. A trip through the museum displayed the vibrant history of the evolution of sailing vessels used in oystering. And although today we have largely left ships with sails behind us, a hands-on lesson in marlinspike seamanship was much just what the class needed to keep our hands warm and useful.

Marlinspike seamanship is a key skillset any sailor or modern-day boater should keep under their belt. While enjoying the festivities at Sayville, we were handed a bit of line (or ‘rope,’ for you landlubbers reading this at home) and sat down for a quick lesson in splicing. While knots are certainly a fundamental in seamanship knowledge, splicing is also high on the list of skills to know. A knot reduces the strength tolerance in a line significantly, therefore the knots used in sailing are usually multi-purposeful and simple to untie. On the other hand, splicing a line actually allows it to retain all of its strength. And similar to knots, there are multiple types of splicing. For the quick classroom purposes, we tried a simple eye-splice with a small piece of three-stranded line. The eye-splice creates a loop at the working end of a line, and it can be far easier to tie when one has a marlinspike tool handy; one such tool might easily be found on the work belt of any old sailor! Although I had had a bit of practice in splicing while sailing with SEA Semester this summer, this time around was not quite as ‘smooth sailing.’ The temperature was falling faster than the sun that evening, and without the real use of my fingers, a useful splice was not in the cards for me. Luckily, we were not relying on any of our marlinspike abilities this time around, and were able to enjoy the boat burn tribute to Sayville’s rich sailing past.

Tools of the Trade: Oyster Fishing
by Jessica Massaro

While visiting the Sayville Maritime Museum there were multiple buildings we were able to go into to learn more about Long Islands maritime history. The first building we when into was the Rudolph Oyster House. The house has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. Inside the house were displays of all the tools used to catch and process oysters. Many of these tools are still used today and haven’t changed much besides the materials used to make them.

The picture to the left shows the sign on the outside of the Rudolph Oyster House. The house is an example of early 20^th century seafood processing plant. These house could be found all over the south shore of Long Island.

The picture above is of oyster tongs. These oyster tongs were crafted in 1910 by Jacobus Newhouse.  Oyster tong handles could range from 10-28 feet according to the depth of the water you were working in. The teeth are flattened for collecting oysters.

The above image shows an Eagle Claw (right side). This is an oyster rake mainly used for wading fisherman or small boats. It also shows a Clam Rake (bottom). Also known as a “South Bay” rake and are mainly used in raking clamming in the Great South Bay.

Wheel Barrels that would have been used in the transport of the oysters. Oysters are composed of calcium carbonate shells which are very heavy. Wheel barrels could easily transport the oysters from the boats to the processing house.

From top down we have a Culling Fork used to pull oysters off the pile and into the cullers reach. Mitts or Cotts used to protect fingers from the sharp shells. Opening Knives for opening the shells. Cracking Block and Hammer to break the oyster apart.

Barrels or boxes would be placed in the yellow circles. They would use these to sort the catch. Usually placed right behind where the culler would stand for easy access.

An example of what the culling table would have looked like. Piles of oysters on both sides of the table. This is where the cullers would use the culling fork.

Oyster Nutrition
by James Macdonald

As the popularity of oysters exploded into European culture they were not only lauded for their taste and exoticness but also for their nutrition. What exactly is in the nutrition of these mollusks? Well, in half a pound of raw oyster meat one will find 6 grams of fat, 17 grams of protein, and surprisingly 10 grams of carbohydrates. The last detail of their substance is especially confounding as most animal proteins, chicken, beef, fish, and even other shellfish such as lobster or crab have 0 total carbohydrates within them. This makes the protein packed bivalve not only sustaining but also full of energy. Another great feature of the shellfish as a food was their incredibly high iron, zinc, vitamin b12 and D content. At the time oysters were fairly abundant, with almost 220,000 acres of habitat in just the manhattan area alone. Today almost no natural oyster habitat exists around NYC although there is a huge initiative to bring back the local population. The local oyster still has a long way to go before it can reach the abundance it used to enjoy, but for now its enjoyment will have to be curved as their population reintroduction, maintenance, and sustainability is more crucial than their place as a staple in our diets.