Lowcountry shark-teeth hunting ‘some of the most dangerous type of diving’

Doyle Clifton remembers emerging from water as clear as chocolate milk, slipping off a diving glove and seeing a small, reddish shark’s tooth fall to the deck of the boat.

The fossil caught the eye of Clifton’s friend and fellow diver Vito Bertucci, who made the tooth into a necklace for Clifton.

Bertucci was a renowned diver who filled his Port Royal shop and museum with treasures from the bottom of area rivers. He recreated a megalodon jaw from almost 200 teeth, the finished product said to be worth more than $1 million.

Bertucci died in 2004 while diving for teeth and fossils in Georgia. Clifton, 62, still wears the necklace in memory of his friend, a reminder of the dangerous hobby Clifton has since given up due to his age.

Beaufort County rivers and other nearby waters are searched by divers not only for teeth and fossils, but also for historical artifacts. Native American and early Spanish settlements and war artifacts are among the targeted loot.

The prizes aren’t without risks, including near pitch-black conditions, strong tides and sharks. The divers here are considered a select group.

“That particular type of diving, shark-tooth diving, especially around here is probably some of the most dangerous type of diving you can do,” Clifton said Tuesday. “...It’s a strain (even) for a young man.”

The area diving community received a reminder of the perils when a Tennessee man died Saturday while diving for teeth in the Broad River. Brian Owens, the 57-year-old victim from Johnson City, Tenn., had been diving more than 20 years.

Clifton, a volunteer more than 20 years with Beaufort Water Search and Rescue, noted that Bertucci was also an experienced diver. Time in the water isn’t necessarily as important as keeping calm when something goes wrong, Clifton said. Not addressing a small problem, he said, can lead to bigger issues.

In Lowcountry waters, low visibility is a key issue.

Diving for fossils and artifacts involves loading up a weight belt and getting to the bottom as quickly as possible, about 30 to 40 feet down, Clifton said. Then, divers crawl around on their hands and knees feeling for shapes, depositing possible finds into a bag.

Knee pads are required to keep from wearing a hole in a wetsuit. Gloves protect hands from sharp shells.

Flashlights can be worthless in a cloud of sediment, like a car’s high beams in fog.

Divers new to the coastal rivers sometimes reach the bottom, realize they can’t see inches in front of their face and immediately return to the boat, Clifton said.

The Ashepoo River, a body of water north of Beaufort County emptying into the St. Helena Sound, is like chocolate milk, he said. The buddy system is impossible, he said, and you can barely see your own air gauge to know how much time you have left.

The Morgan River, between St. Helena Island and Morgan Island, is a popular spot for finding megalodon teeth but also a hangout for modern-day sharks.

Aaron Youmans, a Charleston contractor who was on the Broad River charter with Owens on Saturday, believes he was once knocked down by Mary Lee, the 3,500-pound great white shark tracked by researchers.

“This is nothing like diving and looking at pretty fish in clear water,” Youmans said. “It takes a special kind of person to even go down there.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 11:24 PM with the headline "Lowcountry shark-teeth hunting ‘some of the most dangerous type of diving’."