The almighty sea, so big and so loud! So seductive, but at the same time frightening… And how do you see the sea, man? Do you often listen to her songs, or do you try to understand what she is trying to say? Maybe she is crying, maybe she is happy? So beautiful, so sweet to the heart and so cowardly.

The almighty sea, so big and so loud! So seductive, but at the same time frightening… And how do you see the sea, man? Do you often listen to her songs, or do you try to understand what she is trying to say? Maybe she is crying, maybe she is happy? So beautiful, so sweet to the heart and so cowardly.

I don’t have an answer to the questions in the dialogue with the sea; I don’t know what he is whispering, but I do know one thing – the sea has always been and will always be more powerful than man, reason and, most importantly, more powerful than love… That is why I stand here before you, because I want to remind you of those who believed in the sea, lived by it, and were swallowed up by it, and held fast by it.

I see countless ships, the people who work on them and their stories all around me; Sometimes stories are born on the water, and sometimes they die there, taking our loved ones with them. The souls of seafarers who did not return to port find refuge in the depths of the sea and in our hearts. At the bottom of the Baltic Sea lie the ships that flew the Lithuanian tricolour into the world’s waters, the sailors who took their big dreams into eternal silence, whose names, together with the names of the sunken ships, can be found engraved on the memorial.

You see, people believe that albatrosses like me and our seagull cousins have special powers, that we are like fictional heroes with the souls of seafarers reborn in our bodies. To uphold their memory – my great mission in life – here I am, an albatross in eternal flight. I’m floating high with my metal body and I hope to remind everyone of those who have sailed away and have not come back.

In the eyes of Klaipėda citizens I have emerged and I am grateful for my body to sculptor Klaudijus Pūdymas and architect Mindaugas Zabarauskas; I was also granted God’s grace when each of my vertebrae was blessed and blessed with strength by the priest Virgilijus Poškus. Ah, what a nice man… I believe that as strong as my metal body will be, so will be the reminder of all the sailors who have not returned to shore.

I have had more than one difficult night. Just as people don’t forget their first scraped knee, I can’t forget the first storm I rode out. Even before I met the curious eyes of the people of Klaipėda, the very first weekend I was here, the wind was going to be whipping up gusts of wind around my wings! But I did. I was not afraid of the wind or the rain that fell mercilessly on my body. I have proved my courage and determination to weather all the storms that have engulfed our loved ones.

I can’t help but feel very honoured to be a symbol of freedom and courage, reminiscent of the dramatic relationship between the sea and man; And finally… I really hope your soul has felt the energy that I feel every day doing such an important job.

And now, man, close your eyes and listen, and let your soul just be and remember those who have sailed and those who have not come back;