The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-11-14
VOL. XIV---NO. Is
TORPEDO PRACTICE on SHARKS.
Hunting the vuiture of the Sea in Novel
and Scientific Way.
From the London Daily Meus.


Not a year, indeed hardly month,
passes but shark spoils British ship
of one or more of her hands. While the
vessel is in the harbor, or riding in the
offing, man tumbles overheard, or is
capsized from a boat, or attempts to swim
ashore, and is torn in pieces by sharks
within sight of help and sound of human
voice. The Alice Davies, of Liverpool,
has Just returned to the Mersey, and in
her 'log" is duly recorded terrible
catastrophe of this kind. She was an
chored off small river, known as the
Probolingo, on the coast of Java, and
one of her crew, Welshman, of the
name of Owen, went with four others to
bathe. They were all good swimmers,
and Owen, who was the most skillful,
had ventured some little distance from
the vessel, when he was suddenly heard
to utter piercing shrek. A large shark,
rising suddenly from the bottom, had
bitten him Immediately below the fifth
rib, and literally torn him to pieces. A
rope was thrown to him, but his injuries
we're so terrible that he Immediately sank.
His companions escaped uninjured, but
of Owens body no trace was recovered.
The shark which attacked him was, we
are told, Judged to be some fifteen feet in
length. Such dimensions, although large,
are yet not unusual in the Japanese seas.
The shark is not so much the tiger as
the vulture of the sea. Like the vulture,
he hesitates to attack anything with life
in it; but if hungry, becomes for the
time possessed with courage not his
own. We shall never exterminate him,
his presence in tropical waters must
always remain constant source of dan
ger. Meanwhile he has at least this
merit, that wherever he may be found he
affords a certain rough species of sport.
There is no better sport than fishing for
shark with a hook the size of a pitch
fork, and huge piece of pork by way of
bait. Harpooning the creature is also an
exciting amusement, although seldom
practiced. Of late years, too, the shark
has been hunted in novel and scientific
ways. There is no better form Of rifle
practice than to shoot at him from over
the stern, with explosive bullets. If you
miss him, he still follows on; if he is hit,
great hole is rent in him. He rolls
slowly over on his back, displaying his
cruel, gaping jaws and vast e1panse of
white under-surface, and his brother
sharks, coming up from around, quarrel
and dispute frantically over the carcass.
Best, however, Of all modes of shark
chase, because most scientific, and conse-'
quently most amusing, is that recently
adopted in her Majesty's navy Of COM
bining torpedo drill with shark fishery.
A miniature torpedo is inclosed in bait
ofjunk or pork, and lowered with proper
care. The battery is duly charged, and
at the moment the Euge fish seizes, and,
as a pike-fsher would say, pouches"
the tempting morsel, the circuit is COM
pleted. The effect is instantaneous. The
head and jaws of the monster are blown
into fragments, and bubbling circle in
the water marks the spot where, few
seconds before, his dorsal fin showed
above the waves.