Anlægget af Fovrfeld Gravlund satte fornyet skub i planerne, og i sommeren 1939 havde borgmester Morten Mortensen udpeget stedet, hvor Mindelunden skulle ligge. For at finde en løsning, der også var kunstnerisk forsvarlig, henvendte Esbjerg Kommune sig til Ny Carlsbergfondets direktion, som var velvilligt indstillet over for forslaget. Udbruddet af Anden Verdenskrig i september 1939 satte dog alt i stå.
Efterårsstorme i 1935 og 1936 kostede mange Esbjerg-fiskere livet, og af gode grunde blev inden eller intet fundet. Enkelte kuttere og deres besætninger kom i land med livet i behold som her kutter E.475 Alice i oktober 1936.
Hurricanes in the fall of 1935 og 1936 costs a lot of Esbjerg fishermen their lives – and nobody or nothing was found. A few fishing boats and their crew made it through the hurricanes safe and sound such as E.475 Alice in October of 1936.
Den 10. november 1941 kunne Esbjerg Byråd dog afsløre, at byrådet havde vedtaget et forslag med støtte fra Ny Carlsbergfondet om en mindepark for forulykkede Vesterhavsfiskere. Oplægget til monumentet kom fra billedhuggeren August Keil, der havde udarbejdet en plan sammen med havearkitekt C. Th. Sørensen og direktør ved Ny Carlsbergfondet, V. Thorlacius-Ussing. Mindesmærket skulle være en cirkelrund mur af granit som de vestjyske granitkirker. Cirkelmuren skulle være 20 meter i diameter og 2½ m høj. Lige over for indgangen skulle der anbringes et stort granitrelief forestillende en sømand, der hjælper en skibbruden: Symbolet på hjælpsomheden og solidariteten på havet. Til venstre og til højre skulle der være endnu to figurer, en gammel mor, der begræder sin søns død, og den unge fiskerhustru med sit barn, begge symboliserende hjemmet. På murens forskellige kvadre skulle indhugges navne såvel på enkeltpersoner, som omkom ude på havet, som på hele skibsforlis. Dog kun navnene på de, som aldrig blev fundet.
Fiskernes Mindelund ca. 1960. Såvel rotunden som skulpturgruppen er skabt af den danske billedhugger August Keil.
The Memorial of the Fishermen, 1960. The rotunda as well as the sculptures were designed by the Danish sculptor August Keil.
I november 1941 havde man 350 navne at hugge ind i muren. Mindelunden forventedes at koste kr. 100.000, og August Keil mente, han ville være 1½ år om opgaven. Ting ta´r tid – og følgerne af krig og besættelse var utvivlsomt medvirkende årsager til, at monumentet først kunne afsløres den 3. november 1949. Da havde man adskillige flere navne end 350 at hugge ind. Nu er der omkring 680 navne indhugget i muren – og heldigvis ingen efter 1992. Det vidner ikke blot om en nedgang i fiskeriet, men også en fremgang i redningsudstyr om bord og nye teknikker og nyt udstyr i søredningstjenesten.
I oktober 1954 føjes der nye navne til listen i Fiskernes Mindelund over omkomne og ikke-fundne fiskere.
More names of missing fishermen have to be added to list at the Memorial of the Fishermen in October 1954.
Her finder du navnene, der er hugget ind i indersiden af Mindelundens mur
Oplysningerne i muren læses således med eksempel fra kutteren Rigmor, der forliste i 1927:
1927
Rigmor
• Markus Iversen Skov, -86
• Tage Rasmus Hansen, -05
Tallene efter navnet er fødselsåret.
Markus Iversen Skov var født i 1886 og Tage Rasmus Hansen i 1905. På den måde kan man regne alderen på de omkomne ud.
Der er ikke mange fotos af kutterforlis – som regel skete forlisene i løbet af ganske få minutter. Her ses dog forliset af fiskekutter E.630 Tosca ud for Sild i december 1966. Heldigvis overlevede alle om bord.
There are only few photos of shipwrecked fishing boats such as E.630 Tosca in December 1966 off the coast of the German island of Sild. Fortunately everybody survived.
The Memorial of Fishermen
When you leave Hjerting Strandvej heading for Fovrfeld Cemetery you see a rotunda on your left hand side just after the turn. It is the Memorial of the Fishermen.
The idea of a memorial for fishermen goes back to the beginning of the 20th century but one of the main challenges was to find a suitable location for all the fishermen who had lost their lives at sea and never were found. The memorial should replace the gravesite the family never got.
The decision to build Fovrfeld Cemetery brought the Memorial for the Fishermen back on track. In the summer of 1939 Morten Mortensen, the mayor of the City of Esbjerg, revealed the location of the memorial. Then nothing happened until November 10th 1941 when the City Council of Esbjerg announced the acceptance of a project financially supported by The New Carlsberg Foundation. It was designed by the Danish sculptor August Keil in cooperation with landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen and V. Thorlacius Ussing, who was the CEO of The New Carlsberg Foundation. The memorial was going to be a rotunda built out of granite – a very common material in the churches of Western Jutland. The circular wall was going to be 20 meter in diameter and 2.5 meter tall. Just off the entrance there should be a sculpture of a sailor helping a shipwrecked college – the symbol of helpfulness and solidarity at sea. To the left hand side and the right hand side of it there should be two more figures: One with an old mother mourning the death of her son and to the right a young wife of a fisherman – both symbolizing the home. Inside the rotunda the names of individuals as well as entire shipwrecks should be carved into the granite. But only the names of those who were never found.
In November 1941 350 names were waiting for the memorial. The total cost was estimated to be DKK 100,000 and August Keil thought he could have the job done in 1½ years. However, the German occupation of Denmark and WW2 delayed everything so the memorial was not inaugurated until November 3rd 1949. Then many more than 350 names names were waiting to be carved into the wall. Now more than 680 names can be found – from 1966 all names of drowned fishermen were listed.
Fortunately no names have been added after 1992. This is not only due to a decline in fishing but is also due to better life saving equipment on board as well as improved sea rescue services.
You can find the names in the rotunda here.
The entries into the wall is read in this way based on the entry of fishing boat Rigmor that disappeared in 1927:
1927
Rigmor
• Markus Iversen Skov, -86
• Tage Rasmus Hansen, -05
The numbers after the name is the fisherman's year of birth. Markus Iversen Skov was born in 1886 and Tage Rasmus Hansen in 1905. In this way you can figure out how old the fisherman was when he died.