Rescue of Jean

Rescuing the Jean

I got word that my life long friend Eldo Hartz was interested in acquiring a boat. His friend Louie called to tell him there was a boat stranded on the north shore of the Savannah River across from River Street on Hutchinson Island. I went down to Tybee Island and we worked for about two months cutting out debris beneath the boat, making patches to the hull and raising the boat with a large sump pump that threw out the water faster than it could come in. I lost a fine new Bowie knife to the river cutting the line as we were towed to the marina in Thunderbolt. The following photos chart the work to a limited extend. It was like stepping back in time to another age. River otters came close wondering who we were. Dolphins turned ten feet off shore as we worked during the brief periods of low tide. No one was hurt and the boat, named Jean when built by a farmer in upstate New York to transport agricultural workers. The former owner Captain Charles acquired the Jean from a museum where it was protected for many years for her historical value. The Jean is now protected on Tybee Island in 'drydock' behind the Carbo House. - Bo Sewell

This photo presents the marks left by Jean's keel during the three months of resting on shore of Savannah River. Tide is approximately 9 feet here and an hour behind the beginning of flood tide at river's mouth.

This shoreline was full of life. Jennifer saw a five foot alligator on road leading to shore camp at high tide mark where Jean was moored during stranding and rescue. We only saw a possum, some otters and a few dolphins checking us out...

This line was set immediately after Jean sank to keep her from moving up and down stream with the tidal flows. The line came off the main cleat on bow deck.

We later ran line to Samson Block on transom deck to keep Jean in line with shore as we removed pilings on shore beneath to clear way for patch. We also tied off on shore piling just upstream. We didn't want her shifting and doing more damage as we worked to empty hull of debris and patch hull.

We slowly became accustomed to shore and didn't notice how incredibly beautiful it is.

These are the first views we had of Jean coming down the reedy, sandy shore, strewn with river debris
that varied from plastic bottles to beautiful driftwood.

These photos show to some extent the damage done and what we were up against.

One estimate to raise, tow and move to Carbo House on Tybee Island ran $42,000. It was a bit of work!

Even with the damage, you can see the pilot house was well fitted. Jean was built in 1913
- and moved to the Carbo House built in 1914! Fate?

My friend Eldo insisted he look at every piece of wood, metal and what have you so that the renovation would be as close to
the original as could be. One piece of 2x4 floated off up river with the tide - and came back the next day.

Jennifer really did see a half grown gator on dirt road leading to base camp at high tide mark on shore. She was a great sport and held the light for us at night while we lay on our backs in the rocky shore and cut through pilings with a Sawzall. I cleared pathways through the shore rock to making walking easier and safer. The shore was slanted and the rocks actually moved over to get in our way and trip us up, I think.

The big moment. After months of demoralizing work and several interruptions, we worked all night to
get boat up in the water and ready for tow to Thunderbolt Marina about five miles away by water.

Spellbound Productions is the only way to go! Call Ms. Spell to talk over your project. She is our resident cinematographer and it always cheered us when she could come out to site and film the operations. The film should really be something. Let you know when available!

It was strange to work so hard, sweating and swatting mosquitoes with the lights of River Street giving us a gentle light. Then, out of no where these huge, big, enormous, absolutely monstrous ocean going vessels would slip upstream or down noiselessly and with barely a wake. Then a tough little tug would blow by and set Jean to rocking when the tide put enough water under her for us to feel the waves. I saw two of these boats that looked to be a thousand feet long pass each other right in front of where we were working. They stayed well away from each other, meaning they had to run close to shore with all those rocks. But they never so much as slowed down and breezed right past one another.

Jennifer would run off the critters that came down shore to see what we were up to. She was our entire security team.
Sometimes a lovely assistant named Veronica would come out to back her up! Brave ladies!

Look out! The serpentine tow hauled us into the excellent Thunderbolt Marina! Last quarter mile we were tied alongside making navigation much more straightforward. Five miles took as many hours.

Home Depot rented us a pump larger enough to handle the job. During tow, we had the pump lashed to center of rear deck.
After securing Jean to dock, we scooted it around to side as shown.

The Staff at the Marina was at first reluctant to haul us out, expressing concern over the condition of wooden boat breaking under its own weight. We were pleased to see how the Grand Lady settled right into the straps with no problem. Them Yankee Farmers build real good boats. And this was his only effort!

Captain Charles lived with the Jean for seven years after buying her from a nautical museum in Virginia (I believe). Notice the deep bow and raised transom. In the ocean salt water, wood is almost immortal. Fresh water is not so kind, rotting quickly due to micro-organisms that die in salt water.

The paint job on Jean was ok before inundation. What you see is mud from the tidal river. I scrubbed off some along the port side while we were waiting to be hauled ashore at the Marina.

Producer Veronica backs up Jennifer's production of Jean's rescue by Eldo Hartz who had Jean moved behind his Tybee Island Motel, the Carbo House where Jean will be restored.

Old college friends from Georgia State in Atlanta in 1960's,
Eldo and Bo come ashore with Jean.

More to come as restoration goes forward...

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