The village of Bon Secour is homogeneous; practically all the residents are close enough cousins to be what Southerners call "kissing kin". They grew up together as did their parents and grandparents. Yet the main thing binding them together are the fortunes of fishing, for the heads of most households are boat captains or crewmen.

     The whole community works in the fishing industry. Nelson's Fisheries alone employs some fifty-five boats, from oyster boats working the local reefs to deep sea trawlers going far down in the Caribbean. MEME'S restaurant has made seafood its specialty. In addition, the two groceries sell largely to the families of fishermen; the hardware is a marine hardware. In Bon Secour good fortune is a good catch.

     In the late '40s there were two or three bad years, which began to depress the people as a long drought will do farmers. For sometime Archdeacon Wilson, the Episcopal priest, had been trying to interest the head of the big seafood company in a service of blessing the fleet such as was used at Biloxi and Bayou la Batre and Tarpon Springs. After he had consulted some of his men Mr. Nelson found little interest and the Rev. Mr. Wilson did not pursue the matter further, for he said that to relate religion to daily life so that it had real meaning it was necessary for the people to want it.

     Finally, about 1949 after a run of poor catches the men who took the boats to sea remembered the Archdeacon's suggestion of a blessing of the fleet. They mentioned it to Mr. John Ray Nelson, and he called in the Rev. Mr. Wilson who began talking to the men to get their opinions and ideas. One man said, rather sourly, that he "hoped to hell it would do some good".

     A day was selected in early August just before the start of the shrimping season and Archdeacon Wilson worked up a simple service appropriate for the occasion. He had enlisted the assistance of the Rev. Mr. H. L. Redd of the Friendship Baptist Church. Together they planned the short service in careful detail and then had it mimeographed so that all who attended had a copy and could take part.

     Sunday, August 7, 1949, was a bright day with a high blue sky arched overhead and white cloud masses off the Gulf of Mexico. To everyone's surprise a large (for Bon Secour) crowd of about three hundred and fifty persons turned out for the occasion. The service was held at Swift's Landing, using the porch of Patterson's Store for a chancel; some two dozen fishing boats lined up in the river.

     Archdeacon Wilson began the service with a prayer for safety for the captain and crew of each vessel. In his sermon was the subtext of the fisherman who had told him about hoping to hell that the service would do some good. Mr. Wilson pointed out that in a manner of speaking, hoping was a form of praying and it was obvious that they were looking in the wrong direction for help. He said that all of them must start "hoping to heaven" instead.

     Mr. John Ray Nelson lead the responsive reading of Psalm 104; vss. 24-41 and Psalm 107: vss. 23-32, these being the two great psalms which relate to the sea, ships and the men who go down to the sea. The Rev. Mr. Redd read the scripture lesson from St. Luke 5: vss. 1-11. The choirs of the Friendship Baptist Church and of St. Luke's Episcopal Church sang the hymns loved by seafaring folk, ending with the famous Navy hymn which starts "Eternal Father, strong to save". Archdeacon Wilson then concluded with another prayer for the safety of the men and also that God would: "Crown their efforts with large success, that our needs may be supplied and abundance be our portion".

     The service was followed by a water parade of all the boats, each gaily decorated and crowded with friends. The parade went down Bon Secour River and through Bon Secour Bay to the mouth of Mobile Bay, and then back to Swift's Landing.

     The people of Bon Secour of all denominations loved their very own service of the Blessing of the Fleet; they felt that this service, in truth, drew them closer to God and God closer to them. It was continued for many years.

     Gradually the channel silted up and the larger boats could not come up the river, but last year it was dredged out. Many hope that the service of the Blessing of the Fleet will be re-instituted; those who get their living from the sea live close to danger and need God's special protection.

     Written in 1965 by Charley and Meme Wakeford for their book �Food, Fun, and Fable.� The assistance of Archdeacon J. D. C. Wilson and Mrs. Charles Wakeford is gratefully acknowledged.