Blessing of the Fleet

Many coastal towns all over the country, whose economies depend on fishing have the tradition of asking the blessing of our Lord for a safe and productive season with a Blessing of the Fleet service.  For many years, my home town of Reedville, VA has also had this tradition.  Every year on the Sunday before the opening day of the menhaden season, several area churches join together at the site of the old Morris-Fisher plant and historic Stack http://savethestack.blogspot.com/ in Reedville to participate in our Blessing of the Fleet. 
Since this was the first year that our new boat was in the area (in a long time), my family and friends made a point to be  present to accept our share of the blessings.

 Graciously, Rev. James Godwin offered the following blessing for our new vessel.  I don't think that anyone could have done a better job, and I am eternally grateful for him taking time to perform this blessing.