The Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville held the 35th annual Halloween Boat Burning on Friday, Oct. 25.

The vessel that was sent home with nods to a Viking burial was the historic clam dredge, John D. Verbeke.

Possibly the last surviving mechanized clam dredger that worked the Great South Bay during the last century, Verbeke was a floating fixture at the LIMM docks since her donation in 2013. 

Donor and namesake John D. Verbeke was from neighboring Bayport.  The vessel was built in Quincy, Mass., in 1929, and operated in the bay since the 1950s. 

During the 1970s, the Verbeke was most often seen in the bay waters between Sayville and West Sayville, her conveyor belt and dredging gear hanging off her port side, scooping up clams, mud, empty shells, fish, weed and bottles from the bay bottom.  After more than 10 years as a dockside attraction, her old, wooden bones seemed destined to join that which she once scooped up off the seafloor.

The West Sayville Fire Department overlooked the event and when strong winds began to carry embers into neighboring residential areas, the fire was extinguished.