Gloucester Memorials

This is The Fishermen’s Wives Memorial

The idea for a memorial to the wives of Gloucester fishermen has been around since the 1930's. Leonard Craske, creator of the Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial (the statue below), envisioned a sculpture of a woman as a companion piece. His model shows a woman clutching a bundled child, her gesture reminiscent of a ship's figurehead. Craske's proposed inscription was, "They also serve who only stand and wait." Years later, the renowned sculptor Richard Rechia designed a sculpture called, "The Widow of the Fisherman," a melancholy figure of a woman stooping to lay a wreath of flowers in the sea.

The Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association was not interested in either characterization of the role of women in the fishing industry. Seeing themselves as doing everything but sitting around waiting, the Wives determined to commemorate their contributions, both in the past and in the future they work so hard to secure. In 1996, sculptor Morgan Faulds Pike, the winner of the GFWA's international design competition, signed a contract to build her vision of The Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Memorial - a woman holding a small child in her left arm with her right hand on the shoulder of a standing child. 

The decades long dream of Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association founder Lena Novello and president Angela Sanfilippo became a reality in August 2001, when the Fishermen's Wives Memorial was unveiled and dedicated. Morgan Faulds Pike's bronze sculpture stands 12 feet high on its base, a boulder of natural granite. It took two years to complete the piece, once funds were raised. The inscription around the base of the sculpture reads: "The wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of Gloucester fishermen honor the wives and families of fishermen and mariners everywhere for their faith, diligence, and fortitude."

 

I thought the flags that lined the walk blowing in the wind was a site to behold.  

 The Fishermen’s Memorial, also known as The Man At The Wheel

The Fishermen's Memorial was commissioned as part of the celebration of Gloucester’s 300th anniversary in 1923. The base of the statue was placed at the site that year, but the actual statue was not unveiled until 1925. The statue is a tribute to the 10,000 Gloucester fishermen who have lost their lives at sea over the centuries and a reminder that fishing is our country’s most dangerous occupation. The statue is the work of sculptor Leonard Craske. The image of the man at the wheel was adopted in 1904 as the logo for Gloucester’s Gorton Fisheries, and the national distribution of their products combined with the popularity of the statue have made “The Man at the Wheel” a well-recognized icon of the courage and fortitude of Gloucester fishermen. Inside the base of the statue is a time capsule containing 47 items representing Gloucester history and culture in 1923, and inscribed on the statue is a verse from the 107th Psalm: “They that go down to the sea in ships.” The Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

 Pretty flowers surrounding the Fishermen's Memorial.

 A View from the Memorial.