Nov. 7 marks 47 years since a deadly bridge collapse in Southeast Georgia.
It was election night of 1972 when a cargo ship crashed into the old Sydney Lanier Bridge.
Cars, trucks and people fell into the water. There were fatalities including children. All of these years later, the tragedy is still fresh for the first police officer to arrive on the scene.
“I remember going to work, it was misting rain,” former Glynn County Police Chief Carl Alexander said.
On Nov. 7, 1972, then 23-year-old Carl Alexander was a patrolman with the Glynn County Police Department.
Just after 10 p.m., a call came into dispatch. Alexander’s sergeant rushed the message to him.
“Hey get in your car and get to the Lanier Bridge, they’re saying a ship has hit the bridge,” Alexander said.
A cargo ship, the SS African Neptune, crashed into a section of the mile-long bridge. The impact knocked 10 vehicles carrying 24 people into the Brunswick River below.
A 2-year-old boy and his 3-year-old sister were among the 10 people who died in the incident. Alexander and his partner were the first to arrive at the chaotic scene.
“We got out and there were people in the water screaming and a lot of panic going on,” Alexander said. “I actually took the spare tire from the patrol car and threw it down so someone could have something to float on.”
That's when his instincts kicked in, ordering those still on the bridge to move their vehicles back to land.
“You could actually feel the bridge moving with the weight of the ship,” Alexander said.
News of the tragedy reached the New York Times and Georgia’s then-Governor Jimmy Carter traveled to survey the damage in person.
But what happened?
A Coast Guard investigation released two years after the wreck determined that it was the error of a helmsman on board the S.S. African Neptune that caused the crash.
As the ship approached the lifted bridge, instead of turning slightly to the left as ordered by the pilot, the rudders were turned to the right.
Repairs took months, but in time it was replaced. Just a small portion of the old bridge remains that wasn’t demolished. It stands in the literal shadow of the new Sydney Lanier Bridge constructed nearly two decades ago.
If you look across the St. Simons Sound from that very spot, you’ll see another ship – the Golden Ray – on its side.
Alexander said when he heard another cargo ship went down it stirred memories of that misty night in 1972.
“It was a long night to be honest with you and there were some people that lost their lives which was certainly a tragedy, but there were some that did survive which is great,” Alexander said.
Now just a memory with a concrete curb peeking through the grass, the last reminder of what happened here nearly half a century ago.