Father Tom Willis, pastor of the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine, offers blessing to the research vessel Desmond Valdes during the annual Palm Sunday ceremony.

For the first time, LAMP participated in St. Augustine's traditional Blessing of the Fleet ceremony yesterday. This tradition, which once saw hundreds of trawlers decorated with flags gathering in Matanzas Bay in hopes of a bountiful shrimp harvest, has been carried out in St. Augustine since at least 1946, and draws thousands of spectators to St. Augustine every Palm Sunday. This year LAMP's research vessel Desmond Valdes, with two LAMP archaeologists and two generations of the Valdes family on board, took its place in line and received a blessing along with dozens of other commercial and recreational boats.

Continue reading "3/28/2010 Blessing of the Fleet" »

The 2010 Northeast Florida Symposium on Maritime Archaeology will be held from March 17 through March 20th. As usual, the Symposium will feature speakers from around the country who will give presentations related to underwater archaeology and maritime history research projects in St. Augustine and around the world. This year we are partnering with the St. Augustine Historical Society to bring you "St. Augustine and the Sea II," the sequel to St. Augustine and the Sea symposium in February. After three days of presentations, the Symposium culminates in the 18th annual Lighthouse Maritime Festival.

Continue reading "3/17-20/10 Fourth Annual Northeast Florida Symposium on Maritime Archaeology" »