In my blog of swimming holes, Damon’s Point was a favorite. A favorite in the summer-time, not in March.
I began scuba diving in 1955, we divers were few and far between on the South Shore. I had to go to the Bliss Company on Atlantic Ave. in Boston to buy gear and get a tank refill. It didn’t take long for others to catch on, and local sport shops filled our needs.
I had the idea that a few bucks could be made doing minor repairs and mooring hunting.
I had business cards made and passed them around.
I got a call from Ellie Williams, the DPW super. , they were having trouble with the tide gate at the dike in Green Harbor. Ellie asked me to take a look at it.
I got into that deep, dark hole with a waterfall on top of me, not fun, there was a piece of tree branch jamming the gate open. A chain, a few wraps and hooked onto a machine and out it came, with no serious damage.
A few mooring jobs in the South river, that saved hauling them .
Another call from Ellie came in March of 1960, a lobster fisherman, that worked out of Damon’s Point saw a strange whitish color in the deep hole just east of the old Railroad bridge. Upon inspection by the harbor master, it was determined it was a car.
How could that be? Well, the remains of the bridge extended out far enough to fish from as well as diving off of, in the summer.
You could drive a car on the bridge, the lobstermen would park their trucks on it. The only barrier at the end was a 2×6 across the end.
Stealing cars by some locals became fashionable, they stole them in Quincy, Braintree & this one came from Cohasset. They would ditch them in any remote place.
Well, why not off the bridge— get the car on the bridge, jam the gas pedal, flip it into drive through the window— off it went through the barrier, through the air and a big splash into the outgoing tide.
With the windows open– it would sink into the deep hole.
Stephen Anderson And I were hired to hook a chain onto it so a machine could pull it out, It was 31º out & 32º in the water.
Steve was inside of the car while I held the door open. It was towed up over the rocky embankment & towed away by a wrecker.
It didn’t take long for the DPW to plant a telephone pole in the middle of the entrance-way. Never again did this occur, and yes they caught the culprit. He served time.
W. Ray Freden
I wonder if you might have known my dad and a friend of his. They dove along the S Shore as well. Were part of the Neptune’s. My dad was Bob Reynolds and his buddy was Fred Calhoun who is still alive living in Gloucester. Both were from Dorchester.