Newfoundland sealing disaster monument nearly done

Work on a memorial for the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster is nearly complete at the Newfoundland Bronze Foundry.

The sculpture will honour the hundreds of men who died in the disaster that marked the province's history forever.

Albert and Reuben Crewe, father and son, will be immortalized the way they were discovered after the disaster — in each other's arms, frozen to the ice.

The difference now is they will stand forever as a reminder of all the lives lost, as a bronze statue to be raised in their home community of Elliston.

Bronze sculptor Morgan MacDonald says the story of the sealers is always in the minds of the people working on the project at the foundry.

"There are moments here where we stop and think about the gravity of what we are creating here and what we're doing for future generations," he said.

"It's a very sad story, and to be a part of that story and to be linked to that history, it's kind of a chilling feeling."

MacDonald and the team at the foundry finished pouring the last of the bronze into the moulds that would create the full piece.

"It's an incredible honour to be chosen to do something that is such an important fabric of [the province's] culture and history … but there's a solemnity to it," he said.

The finished statue will be unveiled in Elliston in June.