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Amagansett

A Fishing Community, Site of a Nazi Landing

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Beginnings: Jacobus Schellinger brought more to early Long Island than his business ambitions when he moved from New Amsterdam to East Hampton after the English took over the Dutch colony in 1664 and renamed it New York. Three of his children - Abraham, Jacob and Catherine - wanted land to farm, so in 1680 they moved three miles east and founded Amagansett (``place of good water'' in Indian language).

Seaside: Amagansett was a major home base for whaling captains, including the legendary ``Capt. Josh'' Edwards. The last whale was taken off Amagansett in 1907. Menhaden, or mossbunker, fishing - first with shore nets and later with huge purse seines dropped from boats - was important for Amagansett until recent years.

Landmarks: A boulder with a plaque commemorating a well spring of the Montauketts is on Indian Wells Highway near the ocean. A 1725 building, now a museum, at Main Street and Windmill Lane, stands on land settled by the Schellinger brothers.

Claim to Fame: Or infamy? In the wee hours of June 13, l942, four German saboteurs in a rubber boat launched by a Nazi submarine landed at Amagansett, bent on committing mayhem in this country. They encountered a Coast Guardsman, who reported them, touching off a 15-day manhunt. Two of the four were executed in 1942, and two given long prison terms after cooperating with the FBI.

Where to Find More: ``East Hampton, A History & Guide,'' by Jason Epstein and Elizabeth Barlow, ``Amagansett,'' by Carleton Kelsey and Lucinda Mayo, in the East Hampton Public Library.

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