On National Maritime Day and the first day of Fleet Week we present “…the vast and endless sea” (2019), David McQueen’s newly installed stainless steel sculpture at the LIRR Port Jefferson station. The three ships - a schooner, a yawl, and a sloop - are modified re-creations of those built in Port Jefferson during the mid-1800's at the Bayles and Darling Shipyards, each positioned to curve as if sailing through the sea, and held aloft by 52 boat stands. The title of the sculpture is taken from the French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's writings in a passage about instilling a love of the sea, "If you wish to build a ship, do not divide the men into teams and send them to the forest to cut wood. Instead, teach them to long for the vast and endless sea." The ships are presented as if they are in the process of being built, temporarily aground, but bound for the ocean.
