On June 18, 1968, the city gained a new statue. The one-ton bronze statue was placed on the platform of the new building of the shipping company Dammers & Van der Heide and Co. Rotterdam sculptor Frans Jacobs, then living in Brabant, wanted to express the character of the shipping company with his six-meter-long sculpture. The "curls" symbolize the power of the waves. Three seagulls fly in the center. And the tail of the work points out to sea. The staff of Dammers & Van der Heide saved for two and a half years to purchase the statue and presented it as a gift to the management. At the official opening of the building in September 1968, the artwork was presented to the director. And also, in a small way, to the city, because after all, even fifty years later, this artwork still makes a beautiful contribution to the cityscape (source: Het Rotterdamsch Parool, June 19, 1968). Due to the demolition of the building and the construction of the Terraced Tower, the artwork was put into storage in 2018. It will be reinstalled during the Hertekade redevelopment.
