Docker hauled to new home

Saturday 11 July 2015

A big bronze statue of a Docker has moved to a new home outside Jersey Museum.

'Le Travailleux D'Cauchie' as he's known has been a fixture inside the Merchant House Brasserie since 1993 but now has a new permanent place for his toil.

The life-size Docker was created by sculptor Colin Miller and is a tribute to the Island's rich maritime history when Jersey sailors would sail as far as Nova Scotia in search of cod. 

There were no mechanical winches in those days so it was down to the strength of the Dockers to haul in the fishing boats.

The sculpture, wearing an original Jersey seaman's sweater, had to be shipped off to a London foundry to have its original coir hawser - that's the Docker's rope - copied and cast in bronze.

Colin Miller is a well-known English sculptor who spent childhood holidays at his grandparents’ house ‘Les Vaux’ in Rozel. He works in bronze, marble, English stone and varying woods - especially olive wood.