Few people are keeping a closer eye on Hurricane Dorian than Jeffery Williams.
He's captain of the Cumberland Queen II, which picks people up from downtown St. Marys, Georgia's southernmost coastal city, and ferries them to the federally protected Cumberland Island.
Williams stopped ferrying people days ago, ahead of Dorian, which could reach Georgia by Wednesday.
The St. Marys native said Tuesday morning he thought Dorian would stay offshore and bring winds of between 30 and 40 mph.
"If that's all we get, that's pretty good," he said.
If it's worse, he said he'll move the ferry up the St. Marys River, which holds the Florida-Georgia line, to tie it to whatever he can in order to keep the vessel safe.
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Williams said he’s not as worried thanks to “Terry The Terrifier” – a skull on a rod he puts on the boat before a hurricane to “ward off the storm.” He said he’s put Terry up the last two hurricanes, and the ferry’s still afloat.
"It's been lucky so far," he said.
A welder by trade, he started working on the ferry at age 18.
Now, as a 29-year-old captain, he'll ride the storm out on his vessel with his deckhands – a pair of brothers, 18-year-old Adam Meeks and Gary Meeks, 21.
It'll be their first storm.
Adam Meeks admitted he was "a little nervous."
"I want to get the first experience out of the way," said the younger Meeks, who wants to be a captain someday. "This is the part of boat work people don't know about."
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