The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind

In March 1984, the Wind Blown, a commercial fishing boat, left Montauk Harbor on what should have been a routine voyage. Its four-man crew--two locals, and two sons of the wealthy gentry that make up the Hampton's tony summer population--had no idea they would soon be facing hurricane-force winds as a Nor'easter put them in a fight for their lives.

Sadly, it was a fight they lost. Neither the boat nor the bodies were ever recovered.

As the second-worst nautical disaster suffered by a Montauk-based fishing vessel in over a hundred years, the fate of the Wind Blown has become interwoven with the local folklore of the East End's year-round population. It has evolved beyond a tragic story of four men lost at sea into a universal tale of family, brotherhood, and what happens when the interests of the affluent and working-class families collide.

With profound insight and unerring respect, journalist Amanda Fairbanks recounts the lead-up to the tragedy and delves into questions that have haunted the community for more than thirty years: What happens to a community's working class when money--the kind that can buy a twenty million dollar beachfront home, or pay the initiation fee for entry into an elite golf club--takes over? Why does an event more than three decades old remain so vivid in people's minds? And how does grief alter people's memories?

Discover a bygone era of Montauk--when it was still possible for fishermen to make an honest living from the sea and before Wall Street and hedge fund money transformed the South Fork into a paradise for those who can afford it, and a lifelong struggle for those who cannot. Captivating and powerful, The Lost Boys of Montauk explores one of the most important questions we face as humans: how do memories of the dead inform the lives of those left behind?