On the night
of February 18th, 1942 two US navy warships, bound for
Argentia, were driven ashore in a winter storm near St.
Lawrence. The ships were: the destroyer, “Truxton” and the
supply ship “Pollux”. The ships started to break up on the
rocky shoreline. When news of the disaster was brought to
St. Lawrence, the men of St. Lawrence and nearby Lawn
gathered on the cliffs above the wrecks and began the rescue
effort. For a night and a day they worked, through a
ferocious winter storm, to carry survivors up the icy
cliffs.. The half frozen and oil soaked sailors were taken to
private homes in the two communities where the women washed,
warmed and fed them back to life. When the task was
finished, 204 sailors had lost their lives, but 185 had been
saved to fight again.
This monument
was unveiled in August 1992, to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the “Truxton
and Pollux” disaster off the south coast of
Newfoundland. The sculpture depicts two figures; an American
sailor and a Newfoundland miner. The miner, in the pose of a
symbolic crucifix, reflecting a premonition of the tragedy
to come, is pulling the exhausted sailor up a slope.
Contrary to conventional logic, there is no rope to be seen.
The space between the two figures is empty. This is the
realm where valour, compassion and self-denial reside.
