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Showers limit activities at Lewes Maritime Day

Memorial service, history tours, Overfalls opening and AJ Meerwald visit still take place
Lewes Historical Society members and staff lift the oars of the society’s 18th century cutter under the command of Andrew Lyter, executive director, during a row up and down the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. RON MACARTHUR PHOTOS
Ron MacArthur
May 27, 2023

Rain showers put a damper on Lewes Maritime Day festivities in Canalfront Park, but it wasn’t a total washout. The May 20 event also served as opening ceremonies for the historic Lightship Overfalls, as it opened for another season.

Overfalls Foundation President Michael Safina pointed out that this marks the 50th year since the Overfalls arrived in Lewes and its 85th year of service. In celebration of the 50th anniversary, the Lewes Historical Society’s Cannonball House is hosting an exhibit of the ship’s history.

The day started with a memorial service and wreath laying by family and friends for three local mariners who died over the past two years – Guy Townsend (1948-2022), Peter Haggerty (1952-2022) and Tim McMillan (1946-2023). Overfalls members also placed a wreath in honor of all fallen merchant mariners.

The historical society and Cape Water Taxi offered a cruise titled History Happens Here, and the society had its crew out rowing its 1770-1810 replica cutter. Cutters were used by crews of large ships anchored off the coast to take people ashore and get supplies. It would have been common to see cutters in Lewes Creek (now the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal). The 10 oarsmen of the cutter will be in the canal at least twice a week and participate in the Lewes Fourth of July Boat Parade over the next few months.

Heath Gehrke, Cape May-Lewes Ferry director of operations and a member of the planning committee, said the maritime industry in Philadelphia generates billions of dollars each year. That economic engine starts with the pilots who board ships from the Lewes-based Pilots’ Association for the Bay and River Delaware.

The AJ Meerwald, New Jersey’s tall ship, offered tours at the Lewes city dock and a sail around Delaware Bay May 21.

 

The schooner AJ Meerwald was named New Jersey’s Tall Ship in 1998 after being restored and launched May 12, 1991. Its home port is the Bay Shore Center in Bivalve, N.J. It docked in Lewes and offered a Delaware Bay tour May 21.
Family members and Overfalls Foundation members lay four wreaths in honor of local mariners who recently died.
Michael Safina, Overfalls Foundation president, announces the opening of the historic lightship and its 50th anniversary of being docked in Lewes.
Seaside Jewish Community Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan offers the invocation and benediction.
Heath Gehrke, Cape May-Lewes Ferry director of operations, says the event will be back next year – and with a rain date. Gehrke is one of the driving forces behind the event.
Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, center, presents a General Assembly tribute noting the important maritime history in Lewes to Michael Safina, Overfalls Foundation president, left, and Health Gehrke, Cape May-Lewes Ferry director of operations.
Memorial wreaths are in place along the waterfront in Canalfront Park in memory of three merchant mariners who died over the past two years. A wreath was also laid for all mariners.
Lewes Mayor Andrew Williams hits a gavel to officially open the Lightship Overfalls for another season. Even with a drizzle, dozens turned out for tours of the historic ship docked in Canalfront Park.
A large crowd gathers under tents on a soggy Saturday morning to pay tribute to local mariners who recently died.
It’s time to board the Cape Water Taxi for the History Happens Here tour presented by Lewes Historical Society.
As Lewes Historical Society Executive Director Andrew Lyter sounds out commands, the crew heads toward the dock along Canalfront Park.
The AJ Meerwald returns to port via Roosevelt Inlet after a May 21 sail around Delaware Bay.
The oarsmen rowing the Lewes Historical Society cutter cast a reflection along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
The Lewes Historical Society cutter crew prepares to dock at Lewes Canalfront Park.
The schooner AJ Meerwald attracts a lot of attention as it is moored at the Lewes city dock over the weekend.
The AJ Meerwald enters Roosevelt Inlet following a May 21 sail in Delaware Bay.
The deck of the AJ Merrwald is filled with people getting a taste of what sea life was like during the ship’s oyster and clam harvesting days from 1928 into the 1950s.

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