Aransas Pass Progress
Friday, March 10, dignitaries gathered at Conn Brown Harbor in Aransas Pass to celebrate one of the most symbolic pieces of the restoration that’s taken five years for the City of Aransas Pass to close a chapteronfollowingthedevastation left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The crucifix above the Seaman’s Memorial Tower has been replaced, the original blown away by the fury of the storm. DMR Services of Ingleside, usually busy with fabricating jobs for recreational boating, recreated the metal cross out of aluminum tubing with rounded edges to make it more durable should another hurricane hit the area.
Aransas Pass Progress
A lithograph print shows what the original memorial looked like when it was built in May 1970.
On two sides of the tower pink marble slabs are engraved with the names of fishermen who perished, the sea a dangerous and unforgiving landscape for many whose livelihoods depended on shrimping, and still do. Charlie Marshall, a respected local funeral director, donated the stone tablets.
Aransas Pass Progress
Built with a small chapel at its base, there’s references to Christianity everywhere, including stained-glass windows that beamed with bright colors thanks to the warmth of daylight, even though the sky was overcast for the ceremony. Rosary beads left behind offer some solace for those seeking to pray for those lost at sea, the memorial built and dedicated by the Shrimporee Association, long since under the care of the city.
Aransas Pass Progress
On the grounds of the memorial is this anchor, a marker nearby indicating it had been donated by a fisherman who pulled it up from the ocean floor, its origins likely more than 100 years old, believed to have come from a Civil Warera gunship that once plied the waters.
Aransas Pass Progress
Courtesy: City of Aransas Pass
An aerial view offers a different perspective of the majesty of the Seaman’s Memorial Tower with the new crucifix at its peak.
Ingleside Company Restores Iconic Conn Brown Landmark
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