It has been said that all sorts of things come in
threes. For the Point Pleasant Beach First
Aid Dive Team, memories of Hurricane Sandy recently came back in threes. But rather than cringe at the destruction and
loss from the storm, these volunteer divers smiled at the recoveries.
A Friendly Face
Last November, Dive Team members were training off a
beach in Bay Head when a reminder of the historic storm appeared in the form of
a smiling face. The divers had been in
the water nearly three hours, swimming and practicing underwater
navigation. Just as they crawled out,
cold and tired, Nancy Bowden just happened to be strolling down the beach. They had first met each other nearly four
years earlier.
One of the homes demolished by Hurricane Sandy had
belonged to Nancy’s grandmother. In the
storm, flood waters and pounding surf had lifted the house off its
foundation. The powerful waves and wind
then transported the entire structure from Mantoloking proper to an island
clear across Barnegat Bay. There, it
finally ran aground and collapsed down on itself.
In March 2013, the Dive Team was in the bay
conducting boat operations training, surrounded by storm debris. Along the way, the crew met Nancy with
friends and family, who themselves were attempting to salvage personal effects
from the family home at its new address.
In the collapse, many of the contents of the lower floors had
effectively been pushed up into the attic.
Incredibly, the roof was still intact, so everything directly underneath
it had remained protected!
Divers assisted with the loading and transport of
two boatloads of household goods back to dock.
Furniture, books, clothing, photos, and a hand-made cedar chest full of
blankets would all be used to recreate some of the memories from the 85-year
old house. Nancy smiled with some hope
as the divers wished her family well.
Running into Nancy Bowden on the beach two months
ago was as happenstance as it was in the bay just months after the
hurricane. In the meantime, the family
home has been rebuilt. And she’s still
smiling.
A Forgotten Find
Last December, the Dive Team conducted another
training dive on the same Bay Head beach.
This time, divers found an entire brick chimney in four feet of
water.
Chet Nesley, Chief Diver of the Dive Team, said at
the time, “We were just here two weeks ago, and this was not out like
this.” He thinks that this was likely
yet another piece of debris that had been deposited from the superstorm, but
only recently exposed. Shortly after the
storm, there were reports from a fishing vessel that an entire house roof was
adrift two miles offshore, so burying a chimney on the beach would have been
small potatoes for Sandy.
He continued, “There is absolutely no marine growth
on any of the brick. It just goes to
show you how much sand the ocean can move around in a short period of time!”
Returning a
Memory
Also last fall, a remnant of the historic storm was
recovered, quite by chance, in Shark River Inlet. Chief Nesley was diving in the inlet by the
Ocean Avenue Bridge in Belmar. While
salvaging fishing gear off the bottom, he picked up a wooden plank to move it
out of his search area. However, this
board had a mind of its own, falling back down on him. Twice.
Not wanting to get hit by it a third time, he moved
to jam it into a rocky crevice. That was
when his hand slid down the plank, hitting a metal plaque still firmly
attached.
Nesley removed the plank from the water. Brushing the plaque off, he discovered that
it had been dedicated to a “husband, father, grandfather, and fireman” lost on
9-11.
“I don’t normally dive in this area, but I had
followed a line of fishing debris out to this spot,” explained Nesley. “And then it wouldn’t let me throw it
away! This was meant to be found.”
This was actually the third memorial plaque that
Point Pleasant First Aid divers have located and salvaged. The other two finds were posted on several social
media outlets, with one already being returned to the family of the dedicatee.
The recovery of the most recent plaque, dedicated to
Charles W. Mathers, was posted on “Barnegat Bay Island”, a Facebook page, and
Jersey Shore Hurricane News. JSHN acted
as liaison to make contact with the Mathers family. Arrangements were made to return the plaque.
Marjorie Mathers Kane met with the First Aid Dive
Team on January 15, 2017 and was presented with the memorial plaque honoring
her father. She expressed her excitement
and gratitude while sharing its story.
It had been dedicated on a bench on the Sea Girt boardwalk, prior to
being washed away and lost to the ocean during Sandy.
For four years, anytime Marjorie’s mother visited
from Galveston, they would walk the beach.
They would turn over debris, every time wondering, “Could this be it?” with
a slim hope of the plaque one day returning.
After four years, it insisted on being found.
Three months, three Sandy memories.
