For days after Hurricane Sally, drivers along Alabama 161 in Orange Beach slowed for the same sight: a large boat propped against the guardrail at Cotton Bayou, close enough to passing traffic to read the name across its hull. The “Battle Wagon” became one of the enduring images of what the storm did to south Baldwin County.
A mile from its slip
The vessel had been docked at Zeke’s Marina before the storm. Sally’s surge carried it roughly a mile, depositing it on the far side of Cotton Bayou beside the roadway.
Despite the journey, the boat came through in better condition than its owner expected, with the hull largely intact after the water receded.
Family memories on board
Owner Roger Latham, who lives in Mississippi, said the boat’s value to him has little to do with resale price. He described years of trips with his four children, a family that even had matching Battle Wagon shirts made.
The boat was one of dozens knocked loose from marinas and moorings around Orange Beach and Gulf Shores when Sally pushed water far inland. Cleanup crews spent weeks pulling vessels off roadsides, out of marsh grass and away from damaged docks along the Baldwin County coast.