A memorial monument honoring fishermen who perished at sea was inaugurated at the port of Locquémeau in an emotionally charged ceremony. Mayor Joël Le Jeune of Trédrez-Locquémeau dedicated the stone memorial on Saturday, November 8, creating a place of remembrance for families of sailors who disappeared in the waters off this Breton coast.
The monument project came to life following the disappearance of Jean-Philippe Nédélec in May 2024, whose body has never been recovered. "A very shocking event that created the need for a place of gathering, for his father Claude and the entire family, but also for the descendants of all those who perished at sea offshore, or even in the port of Locquémeau," explained Mayor Le Jeune. To ensure no one would be forgotten, including those who disappeared at sea during wartime, the municipality decided not to engrave any names on the memorial stone.
During the ceremony, Mayor Le Jeune recounted seven serious accidents that occurred between 1904 and 2024, resulting in approximately fifteen fishermen's deaths. These incidents were particularly devastating for families, as accidents often involved multiple members of the same family. After enumerating the names of these lost mariners, Le Jeune observed a minute of silence with the gathered crowd.
Three local artists collaborated on the memorial's creation: David Puech as sculptor, Pierre Malissin as stone mason, and Laurent Quinquis as engraver. "Creating this monument is an honor, work charged with emotions and with great meaning," the artists stated. Pierre Malissin, who crafted the base and installed the foundation stones, explained that the granite base came from Huelgoat and was shaped into a parallelogram with rounded edges to blend naturally with the landscape.
The sculptural granite originated from ancient quarries located in Le Vieux-Marché, at Sept-Saints, operated by the Hernot family, famous for creating some of Brittany's most remarkable calvaries. For sculptor David Puech, the wave serves as the symbolic connection between land and sea. "The wave that takes away and brings back the sailor, and sometimes keeps him with her," he explained emotionally. Puech noted that just as one doesn't face a wave head-on, sculpting the stone - a living material - required the same approach. "The wave comes to embrace with tenderness the presence of the living," the sculptor said of his six-week project that deeply moved him.
Emotion was palpable among family members in attendance, particularly Claude, Jean-Philippe's father, and Lina, granddaughter of Joseph Ballier. Ballier died in 1935, drowning as he arrived at port before the eyes of his wife Cécile Doyen. "Even though his body was found a month later on the beach of Saint-Michel-en-Grève, his memory as a sailor remains forever alive with this monument facing the sea, and I am very touched by it," Lina shared.
At the request of living fishermen who preferred the monument not be installed at the port itself, the municipality chose the former location of the alignment beacon used for entering the port, situated at the end of Hent an Aod. This placement provides families and visitors with a contemplative space overlooking the waters that claimed so many local mariners over more than a century of fishing tradition in this coastal Breton community.
