A powerful sculptural group with Mary holding the Child and a young sailor at her feet, set on a high plinth, dominates the rocky plateau of the Atlantic cliff, a few dozen metres from the cliff. On the plinth, a metal foundation plaque identifies the sculpture as the personal gift of Cyprian Godebski.

Godebski was said to have had the idea for such a sculpture as early as 1875. - At the time, he exhibited a model of a similar group in Warsaw. Staying frequently in Brittany at the end of the nineteenth century, around 1900 he received a private commission from a landowner there and undertook to 'make a marble group six metres high, dedicated to the memory of the Breton rescuers', as he wrote in a letter of 1901. Due to strong tensions between the Catholic Church in Brittany and the local administration, the statue was not realised. However, the initiative of the Bishop of Quimper and Godebski's personal gift, who decided to make the statue without a fee (as a votive offering dedicated to the memory of his son who had died in Indochina), meant that the authorities finally agreed to erect the statue in a secluded location.

The group was forged in Carrara; Godebski even organised its transport to Brittany. The inauguration of the sculpture in 1904 gathered crowds and became a major event in the religious and political life of the region. In his welcome speech, Godebski expressed his sense of connection with the 'Breton people'. For many years the Madonna of the Castaways attracted processions, was copied, reproduced and became a new place of worship. It is Godebski's largest work in Europe and one of the last such grandiose religious sculptures to be unveiled in France. Reminiscent of the old tradition of votive figures erected in the mountains and on the coasts, Godebski's religious group represents an excellent level of academic sculpture, with, however, a strong realistic element, particularly evident in the expressive figure of the sailor. It is devoid of references to specific historical models. The almost reportage-like character of the scene carved in marble and set on the ocean shore was captured by the Bishop of Quimper, Dubillard, in his inaugural speech:

"In order to capture clearly and precisely the artist's thought, it is necessary to imagine the sea in anger, boats and crews struggling against the sea foam or covered by the waves. A young sailor, the victim of a storm, struggles vigorously against the violent currents; and suddenly, on the shore not far away, he notices Mary in a white cloak, with a star on her forehead, carrying the infant Jesus, who stretches out her small hands towards the unfortunate castaway. He, in turn, guided and sustained by this vision, moves with all the strength of his arms towards the saving rock; he soon reaches it and, while with his left hand he clings to it, his right hand reaches out in hope towards the arms directed to meet him. This last scene the artist wished to reproduce and we must add that his work is complete, a work worthy of all praise. Mary, the Child Jesus and the cloud supporting them both are of white marble; the sailor and the rock, on the other hand, are of grey marble".

Prior to the centenary celebrations of the unveiling of the Madonna of the Shipwrecked in 2004, the severely weathered sculpture underwent extensive restoration. The religious ceremony, which was celebrated by the Bishop of Quimper, brought crowds of Bretons together again at the time.