03/19/2026
It has been a while since my last post as the recreation season begins it is appropriate to bring up the importance of interviews and knowing your higher risk areas, especially if they involve moving water.
Around 1994, I was asked to respond to a possible drowning from the day before, located on the Georgia, South Carolina State Line on the Chattooga River, a location known as Bull Sluice. The call came from Law Enforcement in Atlanta GA., they reported that a group of young Latino men had been at Bull Sluice when one of them had disappeared. No one at the location spoke Spanish, so they where unable to report their missing friend until returning to Atlanta. The officer in Atlanta did a great job of describing where they had been hanging out near a rock on river left about 10 to 15 yards off shore.
When I arrived, and received the information, and knowing the area it became a head scratcher, after a few moments and some discussion a deputy was sent to the nearest phone for a little more information about the missing person, height and weight and what they where wearing. As this was being done, I formulated a plan, go out to the rock and start walking a pattern towards the most convenient exit point. Once height and weight where known I tried to make myself about 7 pounds negative, with mask and snorkel, and a full breath of air. This was done to simulate our victim in the water.
Upon setting up safety’s I entered the river walking close to the bank until close to the rock described, walking over then sitting on it trying to imagine what a marginal swimmer would do I began walking my pattern after about 10 feet, I fell face first into a hole about 4.5 to 5 feet deep. I stood up took a deep breath went to the bottom and relaxed. The current slowly moved me along the bottom over the course of 30 to 40 seconds, moving me into a small channel in the rocks right to the victim. The current that took me to him was between .3 and .6 MPH. water depth was 6 to 7 feet at the recovery location, with a water temperature around 55 F. The victim had move 45 to 50 feet from where I feel he fell into the hole.
I don’t know if my decisions that made this recovery possible would have occurred without having sat on many occasions watching the currents and flow directions, watching and observing the gathering points of the people and how they normally exited the water. All that can be said is that local knowledge is power, please take the time to become familiar with your high-risk areas, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.
