covediver
Contributor
Gunshots and Gumbo on the Gulf
Back in the early 1990s, I had an opportunity to teach at Dauphin Island Sea Lab at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Right next door was Fort Gaines, which with Fort Pickens on the east side of the Bay comprised two forts which played an important role in the Civil War and the Battle of Mobile Bay. Classic redoubt architectures and a shared connection to other early American forts including Sumter and Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. History was just a stone's throw from the classrooms. Lots of maritime history in the area. This history along with the Southerners natural skill at storytelling and family lore hat went back generations made for some great yarns.
Gunshots and Gumbo on the Gulf is one of those stories told in the "southern style" bringing in diverse elements of Mobile Bay culture. Set in the years immediately following World War II, we meet Albert West travels from rural Mississippi to Dog Lick, Alabama to visit his Army buddy, Bo Landrum. Bo's family runs a commercial fishing operation including shrimping. The boys soon become entangled in a search for treasure and an on-going conspiracy to re-establish the Confederacy. After doing a little research, some of it lethal, they end up at a location where fishing gear has become entangled over the years. A spot the family knew and actively avoided, but never suspected what might be hidden beneath the waves. Sending a commercial hard hat diver to the location reveals more than anyone would have suspected.
This is not really a diving story. It is part "Forest Gump", part "The Deep" and part Clive Cussler. A quick entertaining story that required that we suspend disbelief, although not too much.
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Back in the early 1990s, I had an opportunity to teach at Dauphin Island Sea Lab at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Right next door was Fort Gaines, which with Fort Pickens on the east side of the Bay comprised two forts which played an important role in the Civil War and the Battle of Mobile Bay. Classic redoubt architectures and a shared connection to other early American forts including Sumter and Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. History was just a stone's throw from the classrooms. Lots of maritime history in the area. This history along with the Southerners natural skill at storytelling and family lore hat went back generations made for some great yarns.
Gunshots and Gumbo on the Gulf is one of those stories told in the "southern style" bringing in diverse elements of Mobile Bay culture. Set in the years immediately following World War II, we meet Albert West travels from rural Mississippi to Dog Lick, Alabama to visit his Army buddy, Bo Landrum. Bo's family runs a commercial fishing operation including shrimping. The boys soon become entangled in a search for treasure and an on-going conspiracy to re-establish the Confederacy. After doing a little research, some of it lethal, they end up at a location where fishing gear has become entangled over the years. A spot the family knew and actively avoided, but never suspected what might be hidden beneath the waves. Sending a commercial hard hat diver to the location reveals more than anyone would have suspected.
This is not really a diving story. It is part "Forest Gump", part "The Deep" and part Clive Cussler. A quick entertaining story that required that we suspend disbelief, although not too much.
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