Mystery emerges from Alabama bayou after hurricane reveals boat long hidden in mud
A large boat believed to have vanished decades ago has reemerged from the mud in Alabama’s Bayou Sara, thanks to storm surge from Hurricane Sally.
Mobile-based photographer David Fields posted images of the haunting shipwreck late last week, after his brothers and 4-year-old nephew, Hayden, discovered it mired in black mud and sprouting weeds.
A photo of the boy standing beside the hull has prompted more than 230,000 views, reactions and shares on social media, fueling a mystery over the vessel’s origin and demise..
“When my nephew references back to Hurricane Sally, he won’t remember the power outage. He won’t remember the wind and the rain, but he’ll definitely remember when all the water left the river and revealed a ship that’s been hidden for a long time,” Fields posted on Facebook on Sept. 17.
The nearly 100-foot-long wooden hull appeared on private property in Saraland near Mobile after Hurricane Sally brought historic rainfall and flooding to the Gulf Coast, he said.
The storm made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane Sept. 16 in Alabama just east of the bayou, causing “a north wind that forced the water out of the river,” Fields said.
Fields told McClatchy News he is working to unravel its past and has found evidence indicating it was a stern wheeler named “Hard Cash.” He recently collected one of its roughly forged nails for dating, and it appears to have been handmade before 1890.
Local folklore says the vessel was a river paddle boat that was docked in the 1960s or ’70s by someone who intended to make it “a gambling boat,” Fields told McClatchy News.
“But the city wouldn’t approve the liquor license, so they made it a gambling speakeasy and BYOB party spot. It was later burned after it had been sitting for 30 to 40 years.”
The present day Bayou Sara is located about 3.5 miles out of Saraland in Mobile County, Alabama, according to Hookandbullet.com. Fields says the boat turned up “hidden way back” behind some homes in a part of the bayou “technically called Norton Creek.”
Among those commenting on the post was bayou resident Jennie-Ruth Childress Gates, who called the craft “a gambling boat” and said it vanished in the past 20 years. “It had a huge water wheel on it,” she recalled.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Mystery emerges from Alabama bayou after hurricane reveals boat long hidden in mud."