Thursday, January 29, 2015

1950 Hurricane Easy

Yes that really was its name; however there was nothing easy about it!


Track of Hurricane Easy
by Wikipedia

Hurricane Easy formed in the Caribbean on September 01, 1950. It was the fifth storm of the season. The 1950, 51 and 52 hurricane names were chosen from the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet. Next they were named female names, but now they have begun using male names for some, just to be ‘politically correct’.


Hurricane Easy entered the Gulf of Mexico on September 02, and then turned north, northwest. When it was west of Tampa, Florida, because of a ridge of a high pressure system to the north it caused the hurricane to do a counter-clockwise loop and it then strengthened to 125 mph. The entire west coast of Florida experienced hurricane force winds.


Wikipedia says, when it made landfall at or near Cedar Key on September 05, it had sustained winds of 125 mph a different report says 130 mph. But all of the older folks who lived there and survived it say it was a much stronger hurricane, they say it was a Cat 4. Considering all the damage that was done I have a tendency to believe the people who lived through it.


There is also another account of Easy that it says 1951, surely there were not two hurricanes named Easy two years in a row. They say on this site that the unofficial estimate was 160 to 200 mph. This account is more in agreement with what the people of Cedar Key experienced.


Wikipedia also says that it was the worst storm to hit Cedar Key in 70 years, and this I can agree with after all of the stories I’ve heard. I did not live here then, but some of the family did. I lived in the Florida Panhandle, and we had some pretty severe weather from the outer bands.


The eye of Easy was 18 to 25 miles in diameter and the eye hovered over this island fishing community for two and a half hours, and once again because of the ridge of high pressure to the north, she did a second loop, this time to the southeast making final landfall at Homosassa Springs, south of Cedar Key, but north of Tampa.


After it made landfall this time it turned to northward and slowly began to weaken in strength, it crossed the Georgia line on September 07 then headed northwest and dissipated over Arkansas on September 09.


Wikipedia says, that it was a well tracked storm from formation to dissipation by radar at the University of Florida, and Reconnaissance Aircraft. Easy left behind tremendous crop damage in the entire Tampa Bay area, and it destroyed the entire small fishing fleet of Cedar Key which consisted of about 100 boats and was the livelihood of this small island fishing village.


It also destroyed the roofs of 150 homes and buildings in Cedar Key alone, and 90 % of all the homes were damaged. Half of those homes were unfit for human habitation for quite some time. Many lost all of their furniture; and everything else because of water damage from heavy rains after the roofs were blown away.


During a 3 day period Cedar Key had 38.70 inches of rain, Yankeetown had as much in a 24 hour period and had a cumulative rainfall of 45.20. Easy still holds the record of being the wettest hurricane. There were two deaths indirectly related to this hurricane in Florida, these people were electrocuted. There were 27 people injured which was directly related to the storm.




Donax Brooms and Brushes
The Donax Broom and Brush; locals always called it the Fiber Factory was closed for two years after the hurricane before opening again because of damage to the building. The employees were out of work during this long period of time.




My husband’s grandfather, Nard Collins was a foreman at the Fiber Factory, and he was one of the employees that were out of work for two years.



Fiber Factory
Grandpa Collins Black Suit and Hat

My husband’s sister Ilene Campbell and her family were one of the families that lost everything. But in time they re-built and started over again. This is what most folks who live in coastal areas do, it is just a way of life when one chooses to live and work on the water.




Friday, January 2, 2015

Sharks Teeth Story

A cousin of mine, Page Lewis found and posted on Facebook today (some while back now) a really nice small shark’s tooth on the beach in Beaufort South Carolina. Seeing her photo jogged my memory of my own sharks’ teeth story.

When they were in the earliest stage of beginning to build the Kings Bay Submarine Base in southeast Georgia, they had to dredge the St Mary’s River a lot deeper to accommodate the larger ships and submarines that would be navigating the river into and out of the Base.


My nephew and niece, Nick and Teresa Barton were stationed there. Nick was in the Navy and Teresa worked for a construction company that was doing a lot of building on the base.


Crab Island photo by Google Earth

The spoil from the dredge was pumped onto a small island named Crab Island on the seaward side of the river, but with Stafford Island between Crab Island and the Atlantic; it was a perfect place to look for sharks teeth that had been buried in the river bed for eons of time. For a long while it was okay to boat over there and spend the day walking the island and searching for and finding sharks teeth.


Most of the larger teeth were broken when they passed through the dredge, but we found a lot of those large pieces. Sometimes those pieces were large enough we could tell the approximate size that it had been. And we found numerous smaller teeth that were in great condition.


Megladon Tooth
Photo by Wikimedia
One of my largest pieces which was almost a half of a Megladon tooth was about four inches long.


I would drive up to Kingsland to visit them as often as possible from Cedar Key. 

We would take a picnic lunch and a cooler with ice, water and sodas and make a day of it. 



It became an addiction that was also a lot of fun, good exercise, and we accumulated quite a collection! 




Bull Shark

Extinct Mako
Each of us kept the ones we found.
I gave a lot of mine away as gifts, and had a few pieces made into jewelry.

I went up to Kingsland to visit as often as possible. Eventually the channel was deep enough they brought in a submarine that was to be home ported there. It was an SSBN boat and Nick being a Missile Tech was stationed aboard her. And the rules changed.

I went up to visit one weekend and like all the other times we boated over to the island to search for black beauties,We had spent several hours searching and took our lunch break. While we were having our lunch we saw another boat approaching.

Aboard this boat were two Military Police (MP's). They asked to see our ID cards. Nick had his but neither Theresa or I had ours. The MP's informed us that we were trespassing in a restricted area. They told us they would have to escort us in.

Shortfin Mako
Tiger Shark
I was very embarrassed because I had no ID card with me. And after being married to a Submariner who served a little more than twenty years. 

I knew better than to go anywhere, and especially on a military base without it. Even though up until now it had not really seemed like a base.



I was very nervous about the situation, but I gathered my courage, and I said Sir, we did not know this is a restricted area, there are no signs posted to that effect. He replied, “Well Mam, now you know this is a restricted area, and we have to escort you in.”


I could just imagine what my husband would say when he heard the story of me being arrested on a military base for any reason. I had never been arrested for anything in my entire life, and now I have a Federal offense hanging over my head! At least a thousand negative thoughts assaulted my mind on the escorted trip back over, I thought OMG; how am I gonna get out of this mess!


They did not take us to an office, oh no, they tied up right next to the boat at the dock, and we had to come aboard their boat. I noticed that Nick opened his extra large pink and gray umbrella for a bit of shade or so I thought at the time.


I knew that I still had no ID card, even in the car because I had not brought my purse. Teresa did have her ID card in the car.


They lectured us for awhile about not trespassing in a restricted area on military bases. As we were talking and I am still protesting that it was not marked and we had no way of knowing that it was a restricted area, I noticed that Nick kept squirming around and each time he moved he made sure the umbrella was tilted between him and the boat.


I thought at the time he was just as nervous as I was, but not Teresa, it was fun for her and she was as cool as a cucumber. When she talks even in a normal tone her speech has a lot of volume.


Anyone who knows her knows this! Nick was definitely nervous, and later after they finished lecturing us they let us go and when we got back to the car I found out why he was so nervous, his reason was quite different from mine.


There were numerous sailors milling around the dock and many coming aboard or leaving the boat. He was afraid the volume of Teresa’s voice would catch their attention; and he did not want any of his shipmates that would recognize him, to see him. He would never, have lived it down. Submariners love sea stories, and this was a classic! 

I had to tell my husband, of course when I came home, and he thought it was hilarious, he laughed so hard he snorted!