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About
Mia Certic, executive
director of Montauk Historical Society, will be presenting a lecture titled “The
Tragedy of the Pelican” at 1:00PM on Thursday, May 8 at Southold
Historical Museum’s Maple Lane Campus.
On the sunny morning
of September 1, 1951, 62 people set sail from Montauk for a day’s fishing,
along with two crew members. When a
freak storm rolled in and the fishing vessel Pelican tried to return to
port, it was hit by a massive wave and capsized only a mile off the Montauk
Point Lighthouse.
Forty-five people were
lost, including the captain, and the bodies of 18 of them were never
recovered. For the past four years,
Montauk Historical Society has been seeking to find survivors, family members
of the victims and others with stories to tell about the Pelican.
This lecture will
address how the disaster occurred, what the Coast Guard did to ensure it would
never happen again, and why it took over 70 years to recognize the tragedy and
create a memorial.
The lecture is free to
attend, but donations gladly accepted.
Kindly RSVP
