Previous Award Winners

History of the FCW Captain’s Award

The Captain’s Award was launched in 2001. The award is to honor individuals, groups, or organizations for distinguished service in protecting and preserving local waterways and adjacent lands. Directors nominate a recipient to the board of directors, and a decision by the board is made by June of each year. The recipient is kept secret until announced at the August FCW Annual Meeting.

The recipients’ names are affixed to a plaque that hangs outside the town manager and select board office in the Town Hall at 549 Main Street.

 

The 2024 Captains Award was given to Frank Messina to honor his years of advocacy for Chatham’s waterways.  Frank discovered Chatham at an early age … not here on Cape Cod but growing up on the south shore of Long Island on the Great South Bay, with its long barrier island protecting the shore...another sand spit left by the glaciers. Long Island and Cape Cod share similar geology and ecology—the sand, the sea, the flora and fauna. Both rich in history and in their fragile environments.

We know Frank is a sailor that loves the sea…sailing Nantucket Sound and the ocean… and that he cares deeply about our waterways.

Frank is active in community affairs and committed to preserving the unique Environment/History/Culture. When he and Joan-Ellen moved to Chatham in the nineties, Frank joined the Chatham Historical Commission and the Friends of Chatham Waterways.

Frank has been closely involved and lead in the restoration and preservation of some of the more iconic structures in Chatham, The Marconi-RCA, National Register District buildings/site, the Godfrey Gristmill, as well as numerous historic homes and structures.

Currently, Frank is chairman of the Chatham Historical Commission, and serves as chairperson of the Chatham Preservation Awards Committee, the Historic Chatham Committee and the Chatham Windmill Group.

Frank has served on the FCW board for more than 20 years, a several serving as vice president. He has been a key organizer in the Water Watchers’ program for many years. He was a member of the editorial committee that published FCW’s Chatham Blue Pages–a guide to protecting our waters and Chatham’s environment.

Frank worked closely with town staff, coordinated, and supported FCW’s commitment to expand the wastewater treatment facility and town-wide sewer system to help protect Chatham’s water quality.

Married 62 years to Joan-Ellen, his two sons also love the water and protecting the environment: one as chair of the Duxbury conservation commission, the other an avid sailor and windsurfer and “activists” in protecting the environment on Long Island. A grandson, recent environmental science graduate of Middlebury College, embarking on teaching environmental science at a prep school in Massachusetts.