Tag Archives: Anthony Sosinski
The First Montauk Blessing Of The Fleet Post COVID Brings Great Joy
The message that permeated on every vessel that took part in the first Montauk Blessing of the Fleet post COVID was that it was in fact a blessing it was happening at all. A year ago, the whole country was locking down, so many traditional East End events were canceled, and there was no annual Blessing of the Fleet in Montauk.,, On the F/V Anna Mary, the boat of Captain Anthony Sosinski and Fisherman John “Johnny Loads” Aldridge, family and friends celebrated with cold beverages, pasta salads, chips and dips, and an assortment of tasty home baked cookies. Sosinski displayed his talent of navigating the boat throughout the 75 or so commercial boats of all sizes that paraded from in the Harbor out to the Block Island Sound. Aldridge and his family and friends know what it is to feel God’s mercy. Eight years ago, “Johnny Loads” fell overboard only to be recused the next day by a 
Coast Guard helicopter as almost every commercial Montauk fishing craft was out there searching for him. >click to read< 12:25
Montauk Blessing of the Fleet – This drone footage by Joanna Steidle shows decorated vessels passing by robed clergymen, who give the boats their blessing. Onlookers can be seen gathered on the docks and shoreline. >click to watch<
Montauk lobsterman cuts two tangled bucks free stuck in mating season battle
Anthony Sosinski, 50, a Montauk lobsterman, didn’t hesitate when he saw two bucks tangled in more than a mating season battle last week. Logan Erb, 25, of Montauk, said her pit bull first noticed the two bucks tumbling around her neighbor’s yard Nov. 20. The animals were joined by a piece of deer fencing that only seemed to tighten as they struggled to break free, so Erb ran to Sosinski for help. “He grabbed a knife and just went after them,” said Erb, who was recording the encounter. Sosinski, co-author of the book, “A Speck in the Sea: A Story of Survival and Rescue,” pursued the two male deer as they wildly twisted. >Video, click to read<19:40
Montauk Lobstermen Recall Their ‘Speck In The Sea’ Ordeal
John Aldridge was literally little more than a speck in the sea after being thrown off his lobster boat, the Anna Mary, on July 24, 2013. A crowd was all ears on Friday evening at the Montauk Library for an interactive lecture and book-signing of “A Speck in the Sea” headed by Debbie Tuma, a journalist and Montauk native, as Mr. Aldridge explained the ordeal of being lost at sea for 12 hours on what had started out as a routine lobster fishing trip. Then she asked for Mr. Sosinki’s take on the lost-at-sea misadventure.,,, When he realized Mr. Aldridge was missing, the boat was 62 miles from land—it had been 8 miles off the shore when they last saw Mr. Aldridge. >click to read<13:28
New York’s offshore wind plan faces commercial fishing opposition – $1 billion boat-to-plate industry at stake
The plan to turn ocean wind into energy calls for anchoring 15 wind turbines, each one a little taller than the Washington Monument, into the sea floor more than 30 miles off the coast of Montauk, Long Island.,,, And that’s right smack in the middle of where Chris Scola makes his living. Several days a week, Scola motors his rusting trawler – the Rock-n-Roll III — into the waters off Montauk’s coast, drops a dredging net onto the ocean floor and scoops up hundreds of pounds of scallops. Once those cables go in, Scola fears his nets will get entangled, making dredging so difficult he’ll need to find a place to fish further offshore with a larger boat, sending himself deeper into debt. >click to read<08:34
Montauk Trying To Save Long Island Shore From Wind Farms – Residents are against it and need more support.
July 11, at the Montauk Playhouse just beneath the Montauk Manor there was an open town hall meeting featuring representatives of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management concerning a project to produce 2,400 megawatts of power by 2030 (12 years from now.) The plan is to construct “eventually” clusters of wind farms along the 100-mile south shore of Long Island from 3 to 200 miles out. The project is to start off Montauk. The large hedge fund putting up a reported $560M has tried to frame the debate as “commercial fishermen worried about their fishing grounds versus clean wind power energy,” but that just is not the case. >click to read<07:53
Now We’re Talking!! BOEM dressed down, wind farm companies get an earful at a meeting
Federal officials in charge of leasing ocean bottom land to offshore wind farm companies got an earful at a meeting with commercial fishermen Wednesday – and much of it was R-rated. There isn’t merely significant opposition to offshore wind farms; there is 100-percent agreement among the fishermen that the wind turbines will eventually put them out of business.,, Deepwater Wind, which has a project slated off the coast of Montauk called South Fork Wind and runs the Block Island Wind farm, was the subject of much of the ire and criticism,,, Ryan Fallon said he has spent his life on the water. “Everyone is against [the wind farms]. This is my life, my daughter’s life. I almost brought her here so you could look her in the eyes,” said Fallon, whose father was a commercial fisherman and bought him his first boat. “I’ve been doing this since I was 12. I’ll die before I let you take it away.” >click to read<20:37
East End forum on potential offshore wind turbine sites turns tense
A public forum on potential offshore wind farm sites turned tense as East End commercial fishing representatives railed against the renewable energy source and its potential impact on their industry. The forum, held Wednesday at the Montauk Community Center, was dominated by commercial fishermen who largely said none of the proposed sites were fitting. “These should be removed off our fishing grounds completely,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. Those who spoke declined to suggest the western sites as appropriate, saying they didn’t want to hurt colleagues’ livelihoods either. >click to read<13:56
A Lobsterman’s Tale of Survival
The darkest moment of John Aldridge’s 12 terrifying hours of floating alone in the Atlantic Ocean came in the first moments after he was flung off his lobster boat. “You hit the water, you’re in such disbelief,” he recalls. “Nobody in the world knows you’re missing. Their life is happening right now, but your life is done! Right now, in the middle of the ocean, today’s the day you’re going to die.” Not only did Aldridge survive — by pulling a James Bond-like maneuver to turn his boots into flotation aids — but, nearly four years later, he’s still working in the profession that put him in so much danger. And he’s retelling the remarkable tale in a book just released. Click here to read the story 10:37
‘A Speck in the Sea’ tells tale of boyhood pals’ brush with death on Long Island fishing excursion
After more than 10 hours in the frigid ocean 40 miles south of Montauk Point, John Aldridge didn’t know if there was any fight left in him. It was at that moment when the cruel sea taunted him with salvation — only to snatch it away. No more than 400 yards away he spied the Anna Mary, his lobster boat, the one he’d tumbled overboard from in the wee hours of the night. His crewmate Mike Migliaccio stood on the roof, binoculars plastered to his face, desperately scanning the sea. Migliaccio was a man possessed. He knew Aldridge’s time was running out. How was it possible Mike didn’t see him? Aldridge had spent all his energy affixing himself to a colorful buoy. But the ocean’s glare hid Aldridge from sight and the Anna Mary steamed away. “A Speck in the Sea” is the personally narrated account of Aldridge and his partner Anthony Sosinski about July 24, 2013, a day the unthinkable happened. click here to read the story 14:17
