Historical 'Burning of the Ships' To Be Celebrated in Essex, Connecticut Saturday

From the Essex Patch by Karena Garrity.

On Saturday, May 8, a 2 pm, the annual Burning of the Ships in downtown Essex will be commemorated with a special ceremony  and a parade.

Pandemic precautions canceled last year's commemoration, but they are on again this year, though in a smaller format.

The Sailing Masters of 1812 hold the event to mark a British raid on April 8, 1814.  It was the largest loss for the U.S. Navy in a single event until Pearl Harbor in 1941.  In the end, the British destroyed 27 American ships.

This 2021 event is still under virus precautions so will be smaller with just a single drum and fife corps instead of multiple ones in the past.

The Sailing Masters of 1812 will parade  from the town landing onto the Connecticut River Museum grounds where there will be an hour-long ceremony.

--Brock-Perry