Man At The Wheel

“They That Go Down to The Sea in Ships, 1623-1923” is the stirring caption for the statue. And, a time capsule containing 47 items inside the foundation representing Gloucester’s history and culture in 1923 is hidden in its base like a treasure chest buried with a ship at the bottom of the sea.

Rough and rugged, the eight-foot-tall figure displays a fisherman dressed in oilskins standing gripped, at the wheel of his ship’s deck. A sense of the always present impending danger at sea is poised, gazing with great seriousness beyond Gloucester Harbor.

Symbolizing his ship’s bow, a semi-circle of plaques mounted on stone are the names of those lost at sea from 1716–2001. Visitors are encouraged to pause to remember and consider the fishermen, their wives and their families. During 1879 alone, 29 vessels with a total of 249 fishermen were lost during a terrible storm. These men are legend, and whose difficulty and sacrifice are elements of the fishing industry’s severe human toll.

Six of perhaps the best-known names on the plaques belong to the captain and crew of the “Andrea Gail.” Immortalized in Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm (New York: Harper 1998), Junger describes this boat’s last voyage and tells about the fishing industry’s history and development Gloucester. The book’s feature film version vividly depicts the crew’s determination and courage showing the dangers of deepsea fishing.