Hathcock History

Though Hurricane Alex missed us by a hundred miles it produced high tides and gully washing rains. The resulting erosion uncovered prime treasure and fossil hunting sites such as that found by Tony Brown after a similar storm struck near here about 15 years ago. The following is an account of one man’s adventure after that storm.
“I went over an incline and was backtracking parallel to my original tracks when I felt my bike starting to sink. Quicksand!
“Instinctively I hit the kill switch and got my engine turned off before I sucked mud into the exhaust. I’ve had that happen one other time. Fortunately I always carry tools with me, but still, it was not a fun experience. I had to almost totally dismantle my engine and wipe each moving part down with an oily rag before I felt it was clean enough to put back together. It started right up and the engine seemed to be running pretty good, but still, I was pretty nervous and kept a close eye on all my gauges for the first mile or so.”
Tony Brown paused to take a sip of his coffee. We were sitting in Island Traders Coffee Pub Bookstore and Tony was telling me about his latest beach-combing expedition.
I know the area well that he was describing. In 1995, the Town of South Padre Island was spared a direct hit by hurricane Brett. Instead, the storm had come ashore about 30 miles north near the jetties at the Mansfield Ship Channel, also known as “The Cut.” The storm made several new cuts through both North and South Padre Island. The first of these is about seventeen miles from the end of the road. It’s a couple of hundred feet wide and about chest deep. One of the first on the scene after the hurricane, Tony had ridden his four wheel bike back along the mud flats until he found a way around and had spent most of the day exploring the wash out areas near the jetties.
(This is a prime area for old coins as there are at least four Spanish Galleons buried in the dunes, in the surf, or in the case of one, right in the middle of The Cut itself. The spoil banks on both sides of the channel are full of coins thrown there when the dredging hoses had gone right though this wreck in the early 1950s.)
So far, Tony had found nothing more than a few shells. It was on the return trip that he hit pay-dirt.
“This time, I had gotten into an area that looked solid, but within seconds I was hip deep in mud. My bike is pretty light; but it still took about twenty minutes of hard work before I reached safe ground. Once I was back on solid ground I propped my bike and lay back to take a breather.
A glint had caught Tony’s eye. Digging carefully, so as not to cut himself, he uncovered an amber colored bottle. After rinsing it in the pool of water that collected in the depression created by his struggles in the quicksand, Tony could read the letters on the surface of the glass; “The Duffy Malt Whisky Company Rochester New York, USA Pat. Aug. 24, 1886.” Within several more minutes Tony located another bottle. This one is dark, almost a black green in color.  Its “push up” bottom and the imperfections in the glass suggest it to be a beer bottle from the same era.
“Its to bad you did not find an old perfume bottle too” I said. Tony had a puzzled look on his face so I explained, “Then I could have written that you fell in a pit and came out smelling like a rose!”
(Send photos and descriptions of your beach finds to Steve Hathcock, 104 W. Pompano St., South Padre Island, Texas, 78597, or Email joefrench@aol.com. If Hathcock uses it in an article, you will be presented with a copy of “Hathcock’s Old Map” a treasure and history site locator of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and South Padre Island. Good hunting!)
Steve Hathcock serves as chairmen of the South Padre Island Historical Preservation Committee, is a member of the Cameron County Historical Commission and is one of the founders of the South Padre Island Historical Foundation. Steve Hathcock and his partner Kay Lay own and operate Beachcomber’s Museum of Local and Natural History at 104 West Pompano street South Padre Island (Open noon to 5 daily closed Monday). E-mail at stevehathcock@islandtraders.biz. Website at padreislandtraders.com.