Dedicated in 1985, The Cordova Fisherman’s monument stands quiet vigil over the town’s south harbor. Cordova stands as Prince William Sound’s gateway to the Gulf of Alaska, which experiences frequent storms as large and turbulent as Atlantic hurricanes.
The Joan Jackson designed statue of a mariner seemingly guiding his vessel through a violent storm. He is surrounded by 132 plaques commemorating the lives of the men and women who spent their lives on the sea, including commercial fishermen, underwater pipeline workers, gold dredgers, oil spill cleanup volunteers, recreational captains, and many more. While not all of the honored died at sea, many plaques bear descriptions of lives given to save others who would have otherwise found a watery grave.
The memorial is best summed up by the excerpt from Whitman’s “Song for All Seas” emblazoned on the dedication plaque: “Of Sea Captains young and old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors…picked sparingly without noise, by thee, old ocean…indominable, untamed as thee.”
