The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-10-26
Some Stories About Sharks.

England, nlessmate of his, a young
midshipman, hailing from Belfast, was
taken Ill of dysentery. The poor young
fellow battled long WITH the fell disease,
but though he possessed vigorous con-
stitution, and as brave q heart as any
man ever knew, he could not shake It
off. During the last ten days of his
illness 1t had been remarked that huge
shark followed the ship continuously;
the ill-omened creature was first seen
over the counter, on the same side of
the ship where was the cabin in which
young H lay dying, and indeed just
below it, Every one saw it; and Off
GERS and men had only to lean over the
rail, and look long enough, and q dim,
shadowy form could be seen moving
stealthily deep down in the calm sea.
Sometimes 1t disappeared for hours and
a hope was expressed that 1t had taken
itself Off "But no." said one of the
quartermasters, an ancient mariner,
who had passed fifty years at sea, "the
shark would not leave until it had got
NhoV IL lldu OOluC lOI uDu bllC Olu 5dlU
jerked his head to one side to denote
what he meant. The shark became the
subject of daily discourse, both in the
forecastle and on the quarterback, and
its appearances were regularly chron-
icled. Sometimes 1t rose near the sur
face, and then it sunk low down, and
looked more horrible in the deep still
ness of the unfathomable sea. All this
time the weather remained very calm,
and we had scarcely any wind, though
at night it seemed freshened, only to die
away in the morning.
AT length H died, after much suf-
fering and brave struggle against
hard fate. Within few hours after his
death this fine young fellow was buried
with all the tokens of respect we could
command.
That morning the shark was seen at
his accustomed place under the counter,
but after the funeral he was seen no
more, and no one on board the ship,
either forward or aft, could after this
gainsay the observation of the old quar-
termaster: 81 told you. sir, he knew
there was dying man aboard us. You'll
see no more of him; he's got what he
wanted"
Entertaining this view, it is not sur
prising that sailors regard the capture
of shark as an act of retributive justice;
for even though the victims that have
fallen into their hands may not have
feasted on live or dead seaman-which
is extremely unlikely, as they never
miss chance of devouring human flesh
yet they look upon him as the repre-
sentative of his race, and 'serve him
out" accordingly.
For several days some sharks had
followed ship off the Brazil coast, and,
notwithstanding every effort, the crew
could not succeed in catching one. At
length shark suddenly made snatch
at the bait, and was soon plunging and
lashing his tail in most furious man.
ner, as he found that he had got more
than he bargained for. 1t was evident
that he had taken the hook, and was SO
far secured, but still he was but half
caught as soon appeared. The men ON
deck ''clapped on" to the line, and very
soon the creature was alongside, but he
plunged and lashed about so furiously
that it was found impossible to land him
on the deck until he had somewhat
exhausted his immense strength. To
assist in effecting this the mate proposed
to harpoon him, and in the absence of q
proper instrument took the boat hook,
to which he attached line. After
few attempts the mate succeeded in
plunging the boat hook in the fore part
of the back, when the shark by pro-
dlgious effort succeeded in swapping the
line, and, freeing himself from the hook,
made off with the boat hook sticking
like flag staff out Of his back. He
remained in sight some little time, evil
IDENTIFY feeling very uneasy, and then dis
appeared; but whether he succeeded in
disengaging himself from his unwonted
appendage'could not be ascertained.
The shark is so voracious that in pur-
suing its prey it will leap out of the
water, and it also feeds on its own
species. 1t has been said that on cutting
open sharks smaller ones have been
found inside; for this 1 cannot vouch
from personal observation, though L
have seen very miscellaneous collec-
tion of articles extracted from the stom-
ach, such as towels, tooth brushes, shoes,
half newspaper, and ropes end. The
shark will devour anything, and may