The fisherman

The fisherman

The fisherman stands in the Gloucester harbor, bronzed green in the late day sun. In his hands he grasps a pilot wheel. He looks out over the water,as if searching the horizon for the ships that have gone out from this place and never returned.

Below the fisherman are inscribed the words from Psalm 107, “they that go down to the sea in ships…”

Around the base of the large statue are bronze plaques recording the names of men lost at sea in the last 200 years. Well over 5000 names line the wide plaques, separated neatly into years of loss.

We are late in the autumn afternoon, eager to find some fresh seafood in town, and yet wanting to refresh our minds of this familiar seawalk. The young man with us has not seen this before. As my husband wields his camera, Eric slowly walks from plaque to plaque. In silence, we each take in the enormity of the cost this little town has paid to ply the water.

Some years have over a hundred names, times when whole ships were lost with all hands on board. The toll is particularly heavy in the late 1800s when occasionally steam ships plowed down the fishing trade.

More recent decades have far fewer names, a commentary both on water safety and on the downturn of the fishing trade in general in the northeast. Even the year of “the perfect storm” has a relatively small list.

Gulls sweep overhead calling to each other out over the water. We watch the bay in its blue brilliance as the day fades. Quietly we turn back to the car and head into town. Over seafood we chat about coursework and family and employment. Leaving town at dusk we climb the bridge over the inland causeway and head back to the land and the sunset over the forested hills.

The smell of the sea lingers hauntingly in our minds, ever a reminder that though we love it, the ocean is a force we will never control.

“Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.” Psalm 107: 23-25