Home Port:

OCEARCH crew becomes beloved Brunswickians

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Name a location along the East Coast and you can bet the Ocearch crew has been there. From tip of Florida to Nova Scotia, the M/V Ocearch has been on a mission since 2007 to tag and track great white, tiger, and other large shark species in the Western North Atlantic Ocean for scientific research, collecting previously unattainable data that has contributed to more than 75 published research papers over the past 16 years.

There have been 45 expeditions on the 126-foot vessel formerly used for king crab fishing in the Bering Sea, most recently to waters around the Outer Banks for 17 days. On board were scientists using the vessel for its unparalleled access to the ocean’s giants. They were there to study and learn about things like antibiotic-producing bacteria associated with sharks, to assess the health of Atlantic shark populations, to assess metal contaminants, and oxidative stress in large sharks, to measure the physiological effects of ... you get the point.

Providing those PhD-types access to the sharks are the people who make the boat go. People like Chris Fischer, Ocearch’s founder, Brett McBride, the boat’s captain, and three guys who, despite having been in just about every port town you can name along the East Coast, like Brunswick the best. That is why they now call it home.

But that was never the plan in the first place. Ocearch came to Brunswick by happenstance, not by design. Dave Stevenson, who is now the ship’s manager, and D.J. Lettieri, a leaderman and deck hand, had been with the rest of the crew in Brooklyn in New York City doing some outreach work after an expedition in Cape Cod. It was November 2016 and time to head south for a winter break. Thunderbolt, just outside of Savannah, was their intended destination, but Hurricane Matthew had different ideas.

“Matthew hit Thunderbolt pretty hard,” Lettieri says. “So a guy named Charles McMillan (of the Georgia Conservancy) who had set us up in Thunderbolt found us somewhere else. As soon as we got cell service again, we got a call from him and he says ‘Hey, look, you’re not going to Savannah. But I know this great little town called Brunswick. They have dock space for you and they’d love to have you.’”

On Nov. 21, 2016, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Stevenson, who at that point had been hired only to make some repairs to the boat and to get it South from Brooklyn, and Lettieri, along with a few other crew members who are no longer with Ocearch, tied up to the City Docks in downtown Brunswick. They were met by McMillan and two downtown Brunswick residents — Ashby Worley and Angie Young.

“We tied the lines and they were standing there to say, ‘Welcome to Brunswick,’” Littieri says.

About that time they also met Susan Bates, owner of Tipsy McSway’s Bar and Grill, who told them come by later when the restaurant opened.

Being the salty sailors they are, Stevenson, Littieri, and the rest of the crew at the time took Bates up on her offer and went to work washing down the salty air of the sea with a few drinks. That day laid the groundwork for friendships they still maintain today, and for them eventually choosing to call Brunswick home.

“Brunswick had a great hometown, community feel,” Stevenson says. “I enjoyed it pretty much from day one. But it was really the sense of community we saw immediately.”

The city had everything they needed. The dock had water and power which meant they didn’t have to run generators non-stop while living on the boat and working on its maintenance every day during their break. It also had warm and inviting people who added to the character of the place. That endeared Stevenson and Littieri immediately. Both are from smaller towns, Stevenson in Colorado and Littieri in Virginia.

Within the first week of being in town, the crew was invited to Young’s house for Thanksgiving.

“That day we got introduced to what felt like the entire town,” Littieri says. “Angie (Young) said, ‘I want people to love my town.’”

Young and others would help them make trips to Home Depot or other stores for supplies they needed to maintain the boat. People they met along the way became true friends and before long, some of those relationships became deeper.

“When they asked us where we wanted to dock the next year, we says, ‘Brunswick,’ for sure,” Littieri says.

Purcell arrived as an intern in 2019, having no idea what to expect.

“I just got an address from Dave (Stevenson) and plugged it into my phone and came down,” Purcell says.

When he arrived, the boat was empty. Stevenson and Littieri were hanging out with friends and going bowling on a Sunday afternoon.

“That wouldn’t happen in somewhere like Boston,” Purcell says. “Being able to tie up in Brunswick is a lot more comfortable.”

He quickly learned what Littieri and Stevenson had already, that Brunswick was a great place to be.

By that time, Littieri and Stevenson both had girlfriends. Stevenson had bought more than 20 acres and a cabin in Western Glynn County where he keeps goats, guinea hens, and a couple of dogs. Littieri would soon do the same, opting instead for a home in downtown Brunswick where he lives with his girlfriend and two dogs.

Purcell, who still lives on the boat, has a girlfriend in town as well and has built new and lasting friendships.

“Plus, we have the best sunset in town right off the bow of the boat,” Purcell says, referring the view to the West of the vessel over the marshes when docked at the City Docks.

A dock is under construction in Jacksonville that will eventually mean the Ocearch boat will move to a new location when it’s not out catching 15- and 16-foot sharks. Littieri, Stevenson, and Purcell will still be catching those sharks and helping the scientists gather their data, but Brunswick will remain home.

They are gone for as many as 85 days sometimes. Sure, they will stop in at other ports along the way for a night or two, but none of those stops has the same community of friends as Brunswick, Stevenson says.

“The community and the friendships have made this home,” he says. “I’ve been to almost every port town, on both sides of the country, and this is my favorite. This is home.”

• To learn more about OCEARCH’s work or to follow the sharks they are tracking, visit ocearch.org/tracker.