ROCKLAND, Maine — On the Rockland waterfront, looking out to Penobscot Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, newly rusting steel holds the memory of tragedy at sea.
It also shows the dedication of an artist and former mariner, determined that Maine should not forget those who were lost.
“It's 33 souls, doesn’t matter what your position is on the ship. You are a living human being with family and life,” Jay Sawyer, creator of the steel sculpture, said.
On Oct. 1, 2015, the cargo ship El Faro sank in Hurricane Joaquin while trying to dodge the storm and reach Puerto Rico. All 33 crew members on the ship died.
Four of those merchant mariners were from Maine — Capt. Michael Davidson, Michael Holland, Dylan Mecklin, and Danielle Randolph.
All were graduates of Maine Maritime Academy, just like Jay Sawyer, who spent five years at sea as an engineer on big ships.
Dylan Mecklin and Danielle Randolph were from Rockland, the city where Sawyer also grew up.
He said the tragedy and those ties to home called him to create the memorial.
It is all steel, with a large plate matching the shape of El Faro’s distinctive stern. Above it stands two life-size merchant marine uniforms, one male and one female, with arms raised in salute.
On the flat steel of the memorial are etched the names of all 33 mariners who were lost.
Sawyer calls the sculpture El Faro Salute, and it took six years of designing, crafting, fund-raising, and securing community support to make the memorial a reality.
“It's been a long time coming,” he said on Sept. 19, as a crane lowered the sculpture into place. Its located beside Rockland’s Harbor Trail, on a site that was donated by Dragon Products, which has a cargo dock nearby.
On Saturday, Sawyer invited the public to the dedication. He had hoped for 300 people, but the crowd was easily twice that number. It included current Maine Maritime Academy midshipmen and officers, the school’s president, and many former MMA graduates and merchant mariners.
Peach Frederick of Warren, a 1970 Academy graduate, said the memorial means something to all of them.
“It means to me the wonderful people who lost their lives doing a great job. And how scary this can be, and every mariner who has gone to sea has run into situations where they wondered if they would make it out alive.”
Families of many of those lost on El Faro sat close to the memorial, holding roses and each other as the ceremony proceeded.
“It's helping the families heal,” Sawyer said. “And I’m not using the word closure because that’s more than I can comprehend. And not pretending it makes everything all fixed. It doesn’t fix that. I just hope it provides some comfort.”
Deb Roberts of Wilton, mother of Michael Holland, called the sculpture “absolutely stunning” and said it does provide some comfort
“When October first rolls around, I feel the need to be close to the ocean because that’s where our loved ones are, essentially for a lifetime. And to be able to have something this beautiful that marks El Faro, overlooking the ocean, is like the best of both worlds. It does mean a lot," Roberts said.
Others shared that view.
“Oh, I was brought to tears. Pictures don’t do justice,” Rochelle Hamm of Jacksonville, Florida, said. She lost her husband, Frank, on the El Faro.
Laurie Bobillo, the mother of Danielle Randolph, said the El Faro Salute will help people remember and understand.
“It's one of the biggest honors Jay could have done. I’m sure Danielle is smiling from the heavens. What a huge tribute and honor,” Bobillo said.
For Jay Sawyer, the years of work on the memorial are finished.
“It's yours now,” he told the crowd and urged them to always take good care of it.
As families made rubbings of the names etched on the steel—sometimes helped by the artist himself—Jay Sawyer said he likes the result.
Sawyer said, "It's so wonderful because it wasn’t meant to be so full of sorrow. It was really meant to accept that sorrow, but try to push past that and realize there is happy, there, can be happy, even with all that grief and mourning taking place.”