Trendy statue ahoy! Ship misses Gormley’s iron man... by 6ft

PIT a man against a 2,500-tonne ship and there really is no contest.

But in an astonishing stroke of luck yesterday the Islay Trader missed this life-size statue by Sir Antony Gormley by a mere six feet when it ran aground at Margate in Kent. The cargo ship, carrying broken glass for recycling in Belgium, drifted on to the shore after its anchor failed to hold during the night.

Sir Antony’s solid iron sculpture, which is bolted to the sea floor, was only installed in August. It is a cast of the artist’s body – one of 100 in his Another Time series located around the world.

At high tide the sculpture, which was being assessed for damage yesterday, is completely submerged.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it was alerted to the near-miss just after 3am, and yesterday afternoon the Barbudan-registered ship, which has a crew of six, was refloated by a tug.

No one was hurt and there was little environmental risk because its fuel tanks were undamaged.