Daily Republican., 1882-08-04
A sMABK SHARKII
The Battle BeGweon two Port Penn
Flshermen end q shark.

| On wednesday last TWO nsnerm0n
named John Williams and James
johnson of Port Penn caught q shark,
the particulars of which are thus graph
cally related by the Philadelphia Re-
cord:
Captain Reybold, of the steamboat
Delaware, brought to Philadelphia, the
CARCASS of a monster shark, measuring
eleven feet, and weighing four hun.
ldred pounds, which was captured in
the Delaware Bay by two fishermen
Iresiding at Port Penn, after an excl
ting battle which lasted three quarters
of an hour. The shark was placed on
the wharf as curiosity, but during the
night crowd OF boys rolled 1t into the
river, and 1t Is now presumed to be
floating down the Delaware to its old
haunts.
On Monday last John Williams and
James johnson, OF Port Penn, q fishing
settlement near New Castle, went down
the bay to fish for sturgeon. Several
hours were spent In casting and recast-
ing their long nets without getting even
the sight of . sturgeon or fish Of any
kind. They grew despondent and grum.
bled at their hard lot in being compel.
ed to submit to parboiling process by
the hot sun without getting anything
In return. High water came about II
o'clock, and the two men began to hope
for better luck.
1--WE were pretty well disgusted,"
said MIR. Williams yesterday, in speak
ing of tie affair to reporter, "and
when we had cast the net the last time
I told my partner, Jim, that II we
didn't strike anything in the next haul
we would stop He assented to this.
Just as we began to make the haul
johnson cried out in glee. He said
the net pulled so hard that 1t made him
think there were two or three surgeons
foundering around in it. Suddenly
the water was disturbed on the left
side of the boat, about thirty feet dis.
tant, and while we were exchanging
opinions as to the cause OF the commo-
tion we saw huge fin cut the water,
and then an immense fish sprang half
way out of the bay.
1t was enveloped In 30 much spray
that we did not think it was anything
more than an extraordinarily large
sturgeon. We at once hurried to close
in the net, and in FIVE minutes the
disturbance had entirely ceased.
Thinking that the fellow had escaped
through the net, we were tardy in haul.
ing in the rest oft. When the circle was
twenty feet in diameter all of q sudden
the monster renewed his capers under
| the water, which foamed and boiled
and foa ned as though 1t had burst into
o whirlpool. johnson and l held on to
,nt fov ltfa h,v khta tVN,a
we we're thoroughly excited and bent
on capturing the fish, which we began
to suspect was other than a cowardly
sturgeon. Foam flew in all directions,
which SO blinded us that we were
hardly able 10 see. thought frequently
the old net would 60 20 pieces, tor it
was never subjected to such rough
handling as 1t treceived that morning.
In the midst OF all this the thing
jumped out of the water not more than
seven feet away from the boat. eff it,
amt sharkw yelled johnson, who
Immediately seized hatcbet that lay
in the bottom of our boat, and stood
ready to hack 1t to pieces as soon as it
came within reach. But We did not
succeed iu capturing him as easily as
we calculated upon.
The next time he appeared on
the other side OF the boat, which he
came near capsizing by diving under
1t. The net became entangled about
him worse than ever at this junctrre,
and after floundering about for two
minutes johnson leaned over and bu-
ried the hathet in his side. Then there
was q circus.
The shark sunk out of sight, and came
near swamping the boat, by pulling on
the net which had fastened to cleat.
AWhen he came to thesurface he dashed
wildly at the boat and strained the bow
so badly that it began to leak terribly
Both Of US pulled on the net with all
our strength. The water all around us
was red with blood. johnson again
succeeded in cutting big cash in the
tail of the monster, which he followed
up a minute later by spearing him with
the gaff. Then it was the shark, mad.
dened with pain, boldly tried to crunch
the side Of the boat in his big jaws.
'Now give it to him!"
screamed to johnson, who began to
ply the hatchet at a lively rate. The
monster maintained his hold on the
boat all the time johnson was dealing
him such terrible wounds about the
head and belly. The blood spurted
out of the 6sh every time he sank the
hatchet in him, which covered us from
head to foot. We we're we'll scared,
must say, because we thought it was a
case of life or death with either the
shark or ourselves We were miles
away from land, and we knew that if
the boat was swamped and we escaped
the shark we could never swim ashore.
The knowledge of these facts lent us
additional strength, and though was
well-nigh exhausted seized bar of
iron which lay at my feet and aided
johnson in beating the shark about the
head until he ceased to struggle.
We finally get him quelled so that
we pulled him into the boat. As soon
as he felt that he was out cf the water
he began raising more mischief, and
nearly broke the boat with his Topping
ard pitching. Then we wished he was
In the water. l was compelled to be-
labor him again with the iron bar until
he quieted down. By the time we got
him under subjectinn and the excite.
ment subsidized both johnson and / were
so fatigued that we could barely move.
When we landed at the wharf at Port
Penn the shark was still alive. and II
necessitstPd more vigorous blows with
the hatchet to dispatch him. Alto
gether 1t was an experience do not
care to repeat in hurry"
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