I am Matt Thomas.

Tybee’s the Bomb

October 3, 2004

In the past week or so, I’ve had more than a few friends and family ask me about the “Tybee Bomb.”

They ask me because Tybee is a small town of about 3,000, and they are surprised when they hear the island’s name mentioned in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Here’s the story.

In the late 50s, an Air Force pilot jettisoned a nuclear bomb off the coast of Tybee Island after being involved in a mid-air collision. Shortly afterward, the Air Force searched the waters surrounding Tybee, but could never find the bomb.

It’s been a subject of local lore for years, and even has its own web site.

I knew about the Tybee Bomb before I ever moved there, and while the subject rarely came up, every now and then you’d catch a group of locals at one of Tybee’s many watering holes discussing what they almost reverentially called “our bomb.” I don’t think anyone in town was genuinely concerned about it. It was more like Tybee’s many other local characters: once-dangerous, but now old, and probably a lot safer if you left it alone.

However, a man from Statesboro by the name of Derek Duke has been patrolling the waters of Tybee, radiation detection equipment in tow, looking for the bomb. And after years of searching, he believes that he may have found it. It was then that he decided to turn over his findings to the Air Force.

Well, in the process of getting the federal government involved, the national media picked up the story. After all, a 7,600lb nuclear bomb in the waters off the coast of the United States is a pretty good story. But to the locals, the story is divisive for a few reasons.

First, as the bomb has been buried under the shifting sands of Wassaw sound for almost fifty years, no one is sure that they will ever find it.

Second, whether the bomb has its plutonium capsule attached is a source of contention. It is however holding a cache of highly enriched uranium, which presents the possibility of an environmental disaster if the bomb’s condition is deteriorating as it is thought to be, there in the salty waters of the Atlantic.

And beyond that, the bomb is also holding 400 pounds of conventional explosives. If they were to explode while the bomb was being removed, it could blow a hole between the saltwater Atlantic Ocean and the freshwater Floridan Aquifer—Savannah’s water source. The possible contamination of the water supply of most of coastal Georgia could pose as serious a threat as what could happen if the bomb is left to its own devices.

So there you are, your very own primer on the Tybee Bomb by a former Tybee resident. In my informal observations, it seems to be the consensus among residents on the island that they should leave the bomb alone. Those with an interest in the tourist economy are much more interested in having it investigated or removed, as the presence of a live nuclear weapon doesn’t exactly say “Fun Family Destination” to the thousands of tourists who visit Tybee every year. All in all, “The Bomb” is certainly a Tybee character that rivals Mrs. Roma, Jimmy Carter, or Tommy Barlow in its stature, but it had better watch out. If it gets too much publicity, the other locals are going to lose their fondness for it.