May 16
2019: The Battery Creek High School softball team wins the Class 3A state championship, defeating Union County, 2-1, at Battery Creek. Senior pitcher Alexis Ortiz hurled a one-hitter and hit the go-ahead solo home run in the fourth inning for the Dolphins, just two batters after Emily Crosby homered to tie the game at 1. Ortiz pitched all 48 postseason innings for BC, striking out 66 and surrendering just 4 runs.
May 17
1562: Two French ships, led by Huguenot Jean Ribault, which had sailed north from Florida, enter the Port Royal Sound, and Ribault names the large natural harbor Port Royal. Ribault decided to establish a permanent settlement on what is now known as Parris Island. His men constructed a fort – Charlesfort – and 26 men, led by Albert de la Pierria, an experienced soldier, are left behind when Ribault departs for France on June 11, 1562. The fort is occupied for less than a year.
May 18
2019: Hilton Head Island’s Cohen Bruner, 16, and sister Skyler Bruner, 14, win the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the Beaufort River Swim. The siblings’ father, Carlton Bruner, swam for the United States in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
May 20
2013: Art Director Hope Falls is hired as an intern by The Island News.
May 21
2022: An afternoon of sailing takes a near-tragic turn for former City of Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling when his boat overturns, throwing both Billy and his brother Paul Keyserling into the Beaufort River. While witnesses said that initially both Billy and Paul were alert and appeared to be uninjured, within minutes Billy was unresponsive, and saving his life became a critical race against time for the passing boaters who attempted his rescue. Other boaters pulled Billy Keyserling from the water, performed CPR and rushed him to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he was initially admitted to the intensive care unit and placed on a respirator. The then-73-year-old Keyserling, who suffered broken ribs but recovered, served three terms as mayor of Beaufort. He was first elected in 2008 and ran unopposed in 2012 and 2016. He opted not to run in 2020.
— Compiled by Mike McCombs
