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!