WARREN, Maine — In a shop surrounded by salvaged steel, Jay Sawyer is creating art and preserving the memory of merchant mariners who didn't come home, the 33 members of the crew of cargo ship El Faro, which sank in a hurricane off the coast of Florida in 2015.
"Two of the members of the El Faro grew up in Rockland," Sawyer, who also was raised in Rockland, said.
Like them, he also graduated from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and went to sea.
"They were part of the community. Their family still is. I've spoken with all these people, gotten friendly with most of them, many out of state," he said.
Sawyer said he felt compelled by the tragedy to create the memorial and has spent six years working on it. He also has arranged for a spot on the Rockland waterfront, where it will be placed.
The memorial features a large steel plate, cut to match the look of the transom, or stern, of the El Faro. It will sit on a base, with names of those who were lost etched into it.
"Family and friends can come up and do a rubbing, sit at the bench," he said.
Above the steel with the names will be two life-sized and lifelike merchant mariner uniforms, one male and one female. They are three-dimensional, all precisely crafted by Sawyer from salvaged steel. The sailors they represent will be saluting.
One of the figures is nearly done, but the other is at beginning stages. They are remarkably realistic, with the steel appearing curved and wrinkled, as though they were cloth, all crafted by Sawyer with hammer, welding tips, and a hydraulic press.
Sawyer said they will add a very human element to the memorial.
"It's taken on a life of its own already," he said. "This is bigger than me, bigger than Rockland, bigger than Maine Maritime."
When asked why he decided to undertake this project, the former merchant mariner gave a simple answer.
"Because of all the people it affected [by the sinking], especially the maritime community," Sawyer said.
Some of them will get a sneak preview of the memorial this weekend. The Maine Maritime Academy alumni association will gather at his location Saturday for a reunion and to see the memorial in progress.
It's not completed yet. The names still need to be etched into the steel, and the female uniform figure is waiting to be crafted. He has the saluting hand completed, though, crafted out of the steel using his daughter's hand for a model. Sawyer used his own hand to model for the man saluting.
In more ways than one, he said, the memorial has become part of him, and his is on a mission to have it completed and in place in Rockland on Sept. 24, just a few days before the seven-year anniversary of the sinking of the El Faro.
In addition to the Maine Maritime alumni gathering Saturday, Sawyer will also open his sculpture garden, called Studio J-Bone, on Sunday for the first time in five years. The garden, located off Camden Road in Warren, contains many large steel sculptures he has created over the years.
He said his studio will be open for a few hours Sunday afternoon, but then he will focus all his time and attention on completing the memorial.