Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-09-12
'phi IOi 61oilBm Nguo pJil
Adventures qWith 1o sharks.


who was a Gulf coast pilot, held
up an arm done up in splihts.I Il
came up from Pensacola to take a
schooner to Tampa, but | shall
have to lie off for a couple of weeks
or so. 1t happened in this way; |
started for Fort Picaens in light
boat under sail about two weeks
a 90, and when we were half way
down the man with me speaks up
and says, Captain, sharks is sorter
thick And I'm dogged if they
warn't. Their fins was a-cutting
water all around the boat, forward,
astern, and on both sides, some
going one way, and some another,
and | should recon there were TWEEN
ty a.follering us. l didn't like the
looks of 'em myself, but | says
'thcy can't damage us in the dingy.'
| hadn't no more'n got the words
out O my lips when, bliml came a
thirteen-foOt shark clean out of the
water. We both gave a jump to
the wind'ard, and the fish struck
about third in with a crash that
almost Glled us, thrashed for a
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 a 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 baIing 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
l can tell you. The splash of the
fish had collected them until the
water was full of 'em, and 1 didn't
feel safe until | was on the beach,
will they bite 2 asked the lis
tener. will a duck swim !? replied
the pilot. Why, my friend in July
or now I'd just as soon swim a lake
of red hot pitch as to swim over
from Pensacola to Fort Pickens.
There are not so many accidents on
record there, because people know
the dangers and look out for them,
but know Of at least a dozen cases.
The last one happened last sum-
mer. a vessel came in port for a
load of lumber, and the Captains
boy, quite a good-sized lad in fool
ing about the rigging fell over
board. The men heard a scream
and rushed to the rail, but the only
sign they saw was a red cloud in
the water. They got O1t the boat
and finally recovered the body, but
the head and limbs were gone
Another time a solder tried to de-
sert 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 the
splash. I've seen 'em moving
around on the bottom like a drove
of hogs. They generally swim
slowly when not chased, but they
can work up a tremendous race
when they are chased, and I've
seen one jump twenty feet into the
air.
ITO show you how hard they can
bite said the pilot, Il have seen
one take a piece ont of an oar.
Another that was hauled alongside
of a small boat, took the cutwater
in its mouth and nearly crushed it
to a Jelly, leaving twenty or thirty
teeth in the wood.
Some time ago Spanish gun
boat dropped in there, and the
officers amused themselves shark
fishing. They had quite a circus.
They would take small dynamite
cartridge bind a piece of salt pork
to it, and fix it to float and wire,
and send it 200 feet astern. Pretty
soon a shark would take it, and
hey would fire by the wire, and
he fish would fly into a thousand
pieces. If one was wounded the
others went for him and ate him
lp.'
.c Dorl;n hoC