If you have ever visited the Montauk Point Lighthouse, you may have seen a towering solitary figure against the bright blue open sky. Frozen eternally in the act of hauling a rope from the sea, this striking monument is the Lost at Sea Memorial, dedicated to all those who have lost their lives at sea while fishing.
Seen here is a still image from “Creating the Lost at Sea Memorial,” a video produced in 1997 by LTV, the public access television channel here. The idea for the monument came from several widows of fishermen lost at sea, including Mary Stedman Farnham and Anne Hodnik. They were soon joined by others affected by similar incidents, and in 1994 a call was put out for monument designs.
Twelve artists submitted a total of 22 designs, and from among those the Montauk sculptor Malcolm Frazier’s design was chosen. Frazier then made a quarter-scale model of the piece, which was unveiled to the public at Gosman’s Restaurant in Montauk in May of 1996. The model was presented in the hope of raising money for a full-scale piece, which was estimated to cost from $200,000 to $250,000.
The money was raised, and by 1997 Frazier was well into the full-scale process. In this video from the LTV Archive, we get a peek inside the artist’s studio, where a massive clay version of the monument can be seen taking shape. The East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection is now making some of LTV’s archives available to the public.
The monument, completed in 1999, was installed at the Montauk Lighthouse that October. Over 100 names of those lost while fishing were engraved on its base. The piece stands 15 feet tall from base to top.
—
Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
