Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-09-13
FIGHTING The M an Eaters.

SHARKS CAPTURED IN AN EAST HAVEN
FISHERMAN'S NET - TWENTY-FIVE
THOUSAND MENHADEN IMPRISONED
WITH THE AIONsTERs-KILL1NG SHARK
WITH AN AXE AND A BOAT HOOK.
NEW HAVEN, August 31.-When the
tide was right yesterday morning, fisher
man Meacham. of East Haven and his help
ers prepared to draw in the immense nets
which they had set for menhadea. For
some days the hauls of these fishes have
been immense, and the fishermen have
often been obliged to get extra help, for
the nets we're so heavy. Meacham knew
yesterday before he had tugged at the nets
many minutes, that he had the biggest haul
of the season. The water surged and bub-
bled like mill race, and at times it seemed
almost impossible to make any Roadway
with the nets. "There's another shark in
there" Meacham shouted as he saw the
tip Of fish shoot like a bullet through the
water. 'sGet the axes and hooks"
Only the day before the men beached a
monster maI-eating shark, which was
eleven feet long and as ugly.as he had a
chance of being, and at another haul last
week five more were beached, the largest
measuring eleven feet. The presence of
sharks in that region is unusual, for the
nets are stretched only few hundred feet
from the New York steamboat pier, and
not far from the Yale boat-house. Boys
have been swimming there all the summer
but the latest capture has frightened
them.
AS Meacham and his man pulled the net
nearer the shore, the white bellies OF the
menhadee flashed by thousands on the sur
face of the water, and there was frequent
were satisfied that there was more than
one shark, and that they we're all big ones,
and were swallowing the fish as man
would huckleberires.
The sharks paid no attention to the gen.
tie motion that was pulling them shore
ward. 1t brought the fish closer and clos
er together, and as there were $4,000 OF
them in the net, the sharks soon found
themselves surrounded, like a dog in a
snow storm, with the little white fishes
At length they discovered that they were
under restraint, and then there began the
widest kind of commotion. The water
foamy, and the sharks. as the semi-circle
which held them grew smaller, darted back
and forth with velocity that left wake
in the water. The pressue they made
against the sides of the net was SO great
that Meacham was afraid they would break
it, and he took an axe and walked boldly
into the water to his waist and waited with
the axe uplifted until shark got within
reach.
The white fish swan between his legs in
such numbers as almost to impelll his
footing, and were so thick that it was hard
work to wade through them. At length
<ooncfor shorH ho 1fQ1 n inatant n front
of him, and he brought the axe down on
it's head with all the force that he could.
The axe sank to the helve, but the shark
only seemed a little stunned. Just then
another shark brushed by him, and turn
ing he dealt it a blow that must have
touched vital part, for the shark raised
it's head from the water and vOmited, Mr..
Meacham thinks, a half bushel OF white
fish.
AS he did not see the other sharks, he
asked one of the men to pass the hook.
This is a sharp barb attached to pole,
which, in turn, is fastened to- a rope. With
quick motion he thrust the hook into
the belly of one of the sharks. and then,
giving the word, the men on shore, fifteen
of them, pulled with all their might. The
shark fought violently, but the hook held,
and the great fish was landed in about ten
minutes. 1t was an ugly fellow, meaSur-
ing eight feet, and with vitality enough to
throw the sand of the. beach all oyer the
men. One OF them tn. ust pole into it's
mouth. 1t snapped it as a man would
pipe stem. Then board was put between
the sharp teeth, and the teeth sawed right
through it.
When Mr.. Meacham thrust the hook in
to the second shark, the sudden jerk the
men gave the rope ripped the belly open,
and little shark, two feet long, which the
big one had probably sucked in with the
whitefsh, fell out. This one, when beach,
ed, measured seven feet, and began to
strew the sand with the whitefsh that it
vomited. Four others were landed in the
same way, measuring five and six feet.
One of the men thrust hook into little
shark, and then lifting it on pole, stuck
its head between the jaws of one of the
big sharks. The head came off as clean as
though severed with knife. After watch
ing the sharks a few minutes, the men
pulled in the net, in which were thousands
of whitefsh. The sharks were of the gray
man. eating kind.