Madeira Beach, Florida: The Hand of Fate

The Hand of Fate in John's Pass Village is very cool. Lots of wonderful places to eat as well.

Three football players. Two pros. Never returned. Tried to free up the anchor and flipped the boat.

This sculpture of nautical doom seems out of place, tucked in a plaza along a line of souvenir shops and restaurants. We're told that John's Pass Village used to be a charming claptrap of dockside businesses. The whole area has been rebuilt and upgraded, and this piece of public art is now part of it. The "Florida Fishermen Lost at Sea Memorial" lists people who died or never returned. The list is long.

Someone placed flowers in the giant hand, next to the foundering boat.

Also known as the Florida Fishermen Lost at Sea Memorial. Nine feet tall, unveiled in 2012, it depicts a colossal green hand rising out of a giant wave that's about to destroy a little fishing boat. According to sculptor Robert Bruce Epstein, "widow maker" waves of this height bring death and destruction to anglers caught in storms off of Florida's Gulf coast. Although the ominous monument is ambiguous -- will the Hand of Fate save or crush the little boat? -- the fact that it's dedicated to lost-at-sea fishermen suggests a less-than-happy ending.