The loss of Walter Cronkite, the yachtsman, was felt on the waterfront on Saturday morning, when Edgartown deputy harbor master Mike Hathaway took a moment from a busy morning to honor the sailor in a quiet, small way.

At the worn white mooring ball painted with the name Wyntje, the name of Cronkite’s 64-foot Hinckley yacht, Mr. Hathaway placed a wreath made of deep red roses.

“He was a good man. May he rest in peace. May he only have smooth sailing,” Mr. Hathaway said as a tribute to Mr. Cronkite, who died on Friday, July 17 in New York.

As the wreath was placed, a flock of waterbirds flew across the water. Edgartown harbor couldn’t have looked better. The sky was deep blue, there was a light steady southwest breeze, and the water in the harbor was close to calm.

“For what I knew of him, he was a pretty special sailor,” said Mr. Hathaway.

Mr. Cronkite’s mooring is in that area down harbor where two opposite shores converge, creating what is called the Narrows. The water moves swiftly there, and the breezes are always lighter than anywhere else in the harbor.

Though the captain sailed the vessel north and became a friend to sailors in Maine, and he sailed south and became a friend of sailors in the Chesapeake, Edgartown harbor was Mr. Cronkite’s sailing home.

What struck Mr. Hathaway most about the retired newscaster and journalist was: “His ongoing respect for the water. Just to talk to him about the wind, the currents and sailing was important. It was important to him. Sailing was so much a tradition for him.”

In the 12 years he has worked for the Edgartown Harbor Master’s office, Mr. Hathaway said, he had never before placed a wreath on a mooring.