UPDATED, 11 a.m.  |  Within an hour of Monday’s publication of a City Paper story of the vandalism of a mess of bronze shrimp from a life-sized statue of the late Capt. Wayne Magwood on Saturday, somebody returned them to a pedestrian boardwalk on Shem Creek.

The stolen bronze shrimp were returned Monday morning. Credit: Tressy Mellichamp

The news thrilled his daughter, Mount Pleasant resident Tressy Mellichamp.  She said someone called her as she was cooking breakfast around 9 a.m. Monday. The caller said the 10-pound bronze cast of shrimp that was removed from the statue appeared to be on the bridge in at the statue’s base. In the original sculpture, Magwood held the shrimp.

“I ran up the side of that bridge – it was covered in ice – and started balling,” Mellichamp said.  “Somebody just laid it down on top of the shrimp basket.  They were there.”

Relieved, she added, “We will get it reattached in such a way this will not happen again.”

Early Saturday, her cousin, Rocky Magwood, told Mount Pleasant authorities that someone snapped off the tasseled shrimp from the statue on the wooden boardwalk next to the Coleman Boulevard Bridge. 

“It’s a big shame somebody would do something like that,” said Magwood, president of the S.C. Shrimpers Association. 

The statue by Savannah, Ga., sculptor Susie Chisholm was unveiled in 2025, five years after the death of legendary shrimper Wayne Magwood.

Rocky Magwood said he drove by the statue around 4:30 a.m. Saturday and noticed nothing awry as he headed to his boat.  At 7 a.m., however, a friend phoned to say the string of bronze shrimp dangling from the statue’s hand were missing.

Rocky Magwood said the weekend vandalism wasn’t the first encounter the family had over a statue.  About 20 years ago, a similar bronze statue of his grandfather, Junior Magwood, was stolen from in front of a nearby seafood restaurant.  It’s never been recovered, Rocky Magwood said. — Andy Brack

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