This year’s annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony will take place at the Fishermen’s Memorial at the turnaround at Pt. Chehalis as it has for the past 53 years. The ceremony this Sunday, May 25, will begin at 1 p.m. All residents and visitors are invited to attend.
Blessings on boats
Starting in 1954, seven years before the Fishermen’s Memorial was built, the boats and men who man them were blessed annually in Westport on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.
With Edna Paterson in charge of organizing the event, the moving ceremony originated at sunrise on Palm Sunday, April 11, 1954, with services held in the Westport boat basin aboard a troller with the bridge serving as the alter. That year, Twin Harbors Lutheran Church Minister Leslie Otterby delivered his sermon, “The Nets Are Out,” verses 1-11, Chapter 5 of the Gospel according to St. Luke.
The original cross used for the Blessings on the boats was fashioned of driftwood found on the beach by the late Jim Empey.
The small group gathered that first year sang “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “The Old Rugged Cross,” accompanied by Darla LaFanchie on her accordion, a common instrument found aboard boats of all sizes at the time.
A different boat was used for the Palm Sunday service for the ensuing three years. All area religious leaders attended, with a different clergyman officiating each year and the number of attendees steadily growing.
In 1958, as a part of the Westport Settlement Centennial Celebration marking the first permanent setters’ arrival on Chehalis Point in 1858, the Blessing of the Fleet Palm Sunday service was moved to Westhaven Drive with a speakers’ stand erected just south of the entrance to the Public Dock.
Permanent memorial
In the spring of 1959, a group of area citizens banded together with the intent to promote Westport and to do major projects to meet that end. On April 10, the group formed the Westport Booster Club, holding their first meeting at the Surf Café on Montesano St. located in the building that is the home of Premier Realty today. Tom Lyle was elected President, a Mr. Thompson Vice President and Nellie Empey Secretary.
At this first meeting, the group decided a permanent memorial to all fishermen out of Westport who have been lost at sea would be its first community project. Bob Cramer, who was in business at The Continental House, (the building that now houses Bennett’s Fish Shack on the first floor) drew a sketch of what he and others envisioned as an appropriate memorial. They agreed at that first meeting to approach the Port of Grays Harbor to request a suitable site for placement of the monument near the tip of Pt. Chehalis.
Port participates
The Port agreed to allow the group to build the memorial at the end of Neddie Rose Drive, which was then called Beach Boulevard. The Port even went so far as to re-route sewer manholes and re-align the drainage system in that area so enough space would be available for vehicular traffic around the monument. The original storm drain was located where the monument now stands.
The Port also agreed to accept the completed memorial from the Booster Club and to maintain it indefinitely, according to correspondence from then Port Manager and Engineer William J. Murphy, Jr.
Project completed
Having received the ‘go-ahead,’ the group made plans to begin construction in the fall of 1959, when traffic would be lighter in the area and more locals would be able to volunteer their time. They then proceeded to collect materials and funds by soliciting donations and selling Booster Buttons at a dollar apiece.
Legend has it that the charter office operators of the time weren’t very enthusiastic about the project in its early stages, fearing that such a permanent monument to those lost at sea would have a negative influence on potential customers.
The going was tough and the donations came in at a trickle in the beginning, but eventually more and more area citizens began to see the potential beauty of such a memorial and got involved.
Finally, in mid-1960, volunteers that included Booster Club members, fishermen and officers and members of Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor completed the monument. That year the Blessing of the Fleet took place for the last time at the main dock on Palm Sunday, April 14.
Dedicated to crew of Barbara Lee
On Palm Sunday, March 26, 1961, the first ceremony at the newly completed monument was held. At that service, the monument was dedicated to the memory of the crew of the fishing boat Barbara Lee that went down on January 28, 1960. The Barbara Lee was helping the Coast Guard motor lifeboat Invincible, which was in trouble trying to cross the bar. The Invincible and her crew were saved, but both skipper Robert Bolam and crewman Ted Sigurdson were lost, with crewman Harold Pernula barely surviving.
Site beautification
In the late 1960s, the Ladies Auxiliary to VFW Post #3057 began beautifying the site around the monument by planting grass, flowers, and shrubs. Unfortunately, the salt spray and weather conditions killed what was planted nearly as fast as it went into the ground.
In 1974, the group decided more permanent beautification was in order. Plans were drawn and local artist Burt Dinius drew a sketch of what the ladies had in mind. With its plan in hand, the Auxiliary sought and found local organizations that become sponsors for the nine planters placed around the monument. Each planter is six feet in diameter and now contains hardy shrubs.
Area businesses donated materials, and the Auxiliary held fundraising dinners, raffles, and other activities to come up with the nearly $2,000 needed to complete the beautification project in time for the Annual Blessing of the Fleet held on April 13 that year.
Service moved to Memorial Day
In the late 1980s, at the urging of the Twin Harbors Beach Association, the forerunner to the Westport Grayland Chamber of Commerce, a permanent date, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, was selected for the Blessing of the Fleet and the time was moved from sunrise to 1 p.m. in an effort to ‘capture’ more of the tourists visiting during the three-day holiday.
No comments:
Post a Comment