The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-23
ADyENTuREs WITH SHARKS
a Coast Pilots Arm Broken by a
Blow from Sharks Tail.

a OOaSJ .E-EA0bB arm Broken By
Blow from q Sharks Tail.
ssYes, it was close shave, and T got
off easy with this. The speaker, who
was Gulf coast pilot. held up an arm
done up in splints. Il came up from
4 Pensacola to take schooner to Tampa,
but shall have TO lie off for q couple
of weeks OF so. 1t happened in this
way: / started for Fort Pickens in Q
light boat under sail about two weeks
ago, and when we were half way down
the man with me speaks up and says,
Captain. sharks is sorter thick. And
I I'm dogged if they Warn't. Their fins
was a-cntting water all around the
boat, forward, astern, and on both
sides, some going one way, and some
another, and should reckon there
was twenty a-follering US. i didn' t
like the looks of 'em myself, but I says
sthey can't damage us in the dingy.'
l .hadn't no more n got the words out
o. my lips when, blim! came q thir-
teen-foot shark clean out of the water.
| We both gave q jump to the wind ard,
and the fish struck about third in
with a crash that almost filed US,
| thrashed for minute, sending one of
the oars into the air and then swung
its head around. and, as was reaching
for the tiller to give it knock, the
tail come agin my arm and broke it
clean in two. In a minute more the
shark was overheard and we sot there
baling and half scarf to death.
Accident? / couldn't say; most
likely it.was. Sharks often leave the
water when they're chased, and it may
not have seen the boat, but we didn't
waste any time after that, can tell
you. The splash of the fish had col
lected them until the water was full of
,em, and | did Mt feel safe until I was
on the beach.
.sWill they bite9u asked the listener.
'sWiIl duck swim?" replied the pilot.
''Why, my friend in July or now I'd
Just as soon swim q lake of red hot
pitch as to swim over from Pensacola
to Fort Pickens. There are not so
many accidents on record there, be-
cause people know the dangers and
look out for them, but / know of at
least o dozen cases. The last one hap
pened last summer A vessel came in
port for load of lumber, and the
Captains boy, quite q good-sized lad
in fooling about the rigging fell over
board. The men heard a scream and
rushed to the rail, but the only sign
they saw was red cloud in the water.
They got out the boat and finally recoV-
cred the body, but the head and limbs
were gone. Another time q soldier
tried to desert from the fort and was
eaten by sharks. You see the brutes
follow vessels in from off shore, and
get in the habit Of swallowing every
thing that comes along, and when a
man goes over they rush for hesplash.
I've seen 'em moving around on the
bottom like drove of hogs. They
generally swim slowly when not chased,
but they can work up tremendous
race when they are chased. and I've
seen one jump twenty feet into the air.
4 'asTo show you how hard they can
bite, - said the pilot 81 have seen one
take q piece out of an oar. Another
that was hauled alongside of a small
boat, took the cutWater in its mouth
and nearly crushed it to jelly, leay-
ing twenty or thirty teeth in the wood
s'Some time ago Spanish gunboat
dropped. in there, and the officers
amused themselves shark fishing.
They had quite a circus. They would
take small dynamite cartridge, bind
piece of salt pork to it, and fix It to
aoat and wire, and send it 200 feet
astern. Pretty soon q shark would
take it, and they would fire by the
wire, and the fish would fly into q
thousand pieces. II one was wounded
the others went for him and ate him
up."