The first died in 1805 aboard Ranger, a sailing vessel owned by Westport’s Paul Cuffe and Michael Wainter, during an unsuccessful whaling trip to French Guadalupe. The most recent death came 21 years ago, when a Westport lobsterman fell overboard south of Nantucket and was lost.

On Sunday, both sailors were remembered along with 62 Westporters lost at sea who are memorialized on a new marker dedicated at Westport Point.

The new memorial replaces an older stone of the same design that was placed at the point in the 1990s through the work of the late Cukie Macomber, who spent years poring over vital records to compile what was then the most comprehensive list of lost sailors available.

But over the past several years, researchers in Westport used technology not available to Macomber to track down other Westporters who died at sea. Ultimately, they were able to increase the number of names on the granite marker from 31 to 64. They include Jeremiah Wainer, who died aboard Ranger in 1805 and Milton J. Brouillard Jr., who was lost off Nantucket 21 years ago.

Sunday’s dedication paid homage to both men and the dozens of others who perished, and Elizabeth Perry and Milton Brouillard III, children of the lobsterman lost in 2003, cast a memorial wreath into the water in memory of all.

In Westport’s early days, many sailors were of either African American or Native American descent, including Wainer, and for that reason organizers including Betty Slade and the Westport Public Library’s Robin Winters invited area Native Americans to take part in the ceremony. Also taking part were the choir and pastor of the Westport Point United Methodist Point Church, Seth Fortier, who said a few words.

Winters, who was spurred to research local mariners following the discovery and exploration of a Westport whaling vessel at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico several years ago, said before the dedication that the work was endlessly fascinating and addicting, but ultimately heart-breaking.

“You stay up at night sometimes and read the stories of these peoples’ lives,” Winters said, reflecting on what stood out about the mariners she learned of over her three years of study. “There was so much tragedy.”