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I was almost a second victim at Chappaquidick Bridge

Posted Thursday, September 3, 2009

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Edward Kennedy

The recent death of Edward Kennedy, the last of the Kenendy Brothers, brought to mind my onw memories of Chappaquidick and the bridge there where Senator Edward Kennedy plunged with Mary-Jo Kopecne with only Teddy arising from out of the cold water.

It was on my honeymoon which was spent at Cape Cod.

We decided to take the boat to Martha's Vineyard where the Kennedy's had a home and where Barack Obama is now on holiday.

Cycles

We hired bicycles on Martha's Vineyard and went for a tour.

We found our way to the ferry which goes across to Chappaquidick.

It was only a short ferry journey as Chapaquidick was only about a hundred yards or so away from Martha's Vineyard.

Bridge

There's a circular road around Chapaquidick and we decided to look for the famous bridge that brought to an end any chance that Edward Kennedy had of the Presidency of the USA.

We did see a sign which said Bridge but as it pointed down a sandy path we didn't think it could be that.

We cycled further but couldn't see it.

We stopped for a while as it was a roasting hot day.

It seems that all houses there have to be built on three acres of land so there weren't many people around to ask.

Answer

We did find someone eventually and asked him.

"Ah! You're looking for the Kennedy Car Wash" he said and pointed back up the road from whence we had come.

It was the place which had said Bridge surprisingly enough.

Back we went.

Sandy Road

It was signposted as about half a mile long but it was along sand.

I decided to cycle along it.

It was bloody hard work especially on a very hot day.

Kelly quickly fell behind but I pressed on as I wanted to see the bridge.

By the time I got there I was pretty exhausted from cycling through sand but I was determined to get there.

Got There

And then I saw it - Chappaquidick Bridge.

However, I also saw the water and how good and cool it looked.

I decided to just wade in there off the beach in my shorts, T shirt and sneakers.

It was going to feel so good.

Quick Look

Just before wading in I thought that, as I'd come all this way to see the bridge, I'd have a quick look before wading in so onto the bridge I walked.

I could last just a little longer.

It's only a wooden bridge and not very long.

However, what I saw put all ideas of a paddle completely out of mind.

Shark

Up and down, time and again, and virtually along the contours of the bridge swum a shark.

It was an ugly brute (to me) and it was watching me on the bridge from the waters below.

Why was it here?

Perhaps it had had a good meal many years before there.

It just swam up and down watching me the whole time.

It wasn't very comfortable knowing that a potential maneater was possibly salivating at the sight of me.

Kelly Arrived

I was the only person there at the time.

About ten minutes later Kelly arrived and I showed her the shark.

Luckily we had a camera with us (we were on honeymoon) and took quite a few pictures of it and the bridge.

I still have the pictures.

Type

However, I wasn't sure what type of shark it was.

Many of them just eat plankton etc.

However, whilst calling my children in Amercia where they currently are I heard my wife telling my daughter that Jaws was based on incidents in New Jersey in 1916.

Out of curiousity I Googled it.

I found the story and it was pretty much what happened in Jaws with 4 deaths and one injured with people being attacked in salt water and in a creek.

It was almost certainly a bull shark that killed them rather than a Great White as Bull sharks can go in river water as well as sea water.

However, it was what I saw that made me sit up.

Same Shark

I saw the image of the Bull Shark.

It was exactly the same as the shark that I saw at Chappaquidick.

It said that it was one of only three sharks, the other being the Great White and the Tiger Shark, that attacks humans.

Wow

My God, during my honeymoon I almost splashed into the water just yards from a Bull Shark.

I would have been there on my own.

My son says that sharks only attack people by accident.

However, I've been reading of quite a few incidents in which that was not true.

Example

Here's one for example:-

"Like many kids on a summers day Jessie Arbogast was having fun with his family on Pensacola beach, Florida. But soon his fun would be come a nightmare, while playing in the sea little more than 15ft from shore, Jessie was attacked by a bull shark.

The shark took an exploratory bite of his arm and a chunk of his thigh, screams of "He's got me!" followed by "Get him off! Get him off me!" could be heard and alerting family and friends of the danger at hand.

Jessie's uncle Vance Flosenzier turned toward the screaming children and saw blood colouring the ocean. He and another man sprinted into the surf and found the 7.4-ft., 200-lb. shark about to roll away, its jaw on Jessie's arm. Vance, who trains for triathlons, grabbed the shark by its sandpapery tail and tried to pull, but it would not budge. He yanked again, and Jessie fell away, his arm ripping, as the shark clamped down. Aware that two girls were still farther out in the water, Vance walked backward, pulling the shark along the sandy bottom of the shallow sea toward shore.

"The shark was killed to remove the boy's arm from its mouth where it was rapped up and put on ice and sent to the hospital where Jessie was taken. Doctor's reattached the boy's arm and after 12 hours in surgery, they wheeled him into the recovery room. They could only wait and see if he would survive.

"Jessie did recover from the bull shark attack and is steadily making progress to regain a normal life".

Gulp

Wow!

If I had been in the water would the shark have ignored me?

If not, what would Kelly have found when she got there ten minutes later?

Nothing probably.

It would have been an unsolved mystery till this day.

Anyway, all's well that ends well as most (but not all) people will agree.

We continued our honeymoon and had two fine children and ended up in Moville.

Big Question

But what would the Bull Shark have done if I had gone splashing into the water just a few yards from it?

That's the 64 million dollar question.