THE skills of Watchet digital creator Andy Lyder have been causing something of a stir, and a laugh, on social media.

A short, animated video of a statue of one of the town’s most colourful characters coming to life has been viewed by hundreds of people.

The character in question is sailor and shantyman John Short, otherwise known as Yankee Jack, a bronze sculpture of whom stands, or, rather, sits on a capstan on the town’s harbourside Esplanade.

The statue, commissioned by the Market House Museum and sculpted by Alan Herriot, was unveiled in 2008, five years after the town’s seven-feet tall Ancient Mariner statute.

Mr Lyder’s video shows Yankee Jack deciding he has sat around long enough, so he dashes off for a pint in Watchet’s Pebbles Tavern, in Market Street, run by Ben and Tanya Allen.

He said: “I just did it for a bit of fun as I get to grips with using AI.

“I am on the committee at Williton Social Club and obviously know most of the publicans in the area, and I think Pebbles is an excellent little bar in Watchet.

“Watchet is suffering with the closure of the hill and I could have said head to Williton Social Club, but decided to send him local to Pebbles.

“I was just looking at Yankee Jack and thought, that way mate.”

John Short was born in 1839, lived in a cottage in Market Street with his wife Annie, and died at the age of 94 years in 1933.

He first went to sea on a trading ship at nine years old with his father and was a full-time seaman by the time he was 14.

Yankee Jack spent more than 40 years sailing the world’s oceans and picked up his nickname when some of his ships ran a blockade in the American Civil War in the 1860s.

During his voyages he learned shanty songs from around the world and became well-known for his singing.

He became Watchet’s Town Crier in 1902 and for a time was also in charge of Watchet’s fire brigade.

Today, Watchet’s current town crier, or bellman, Dave Milton, continues the shanty singing tradition and has even recorded a CD of songs titled ‘Songs of the Bellman’.