The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-04
THE OCEAN TIGER.
The Ravenous Character of the Vari-
GUS Species OF Sharks.
From, the Ne,o Castle CEno) Chronicle.

From the NeiO Castle (En0) Chronicle.
1t was reported the other week that a
sailor engaged in scraping the sides of a
troop ship in the harbor of Sierra Leoue
was drawn into the water and promptly de-
voured by a shark. This is not an uucom-
mon experience, and a boatman has been
bitten in the short time it took him to dip
up pitcher Of water while his craft was
under full sail. We are assured
that it is nothing uncommon for
the ravenous fish to spring a foot
out of the sea in order to secure their prey
For miles they will follow a vessel. on the
lookout for any stray unfortunate who may
tumble or be thrown overheard, and so
deep do they SWIM under the surface that it
requires the practiced eyes of the native to
detect their presence. Many OF the West
India harbors are SO haunted by the white
or hammer headed sharks-the least mia
bic of the $50 different kinds known to
zoologists-that it is dangerous to battle
even few yards from the shore without
an outlook being posted.
Yet the West African negro has been
known to face the brute, not only with I'M
punity, but even TO come off as victor in
the end. All but amphibious, the swimmer
cautiously approaches his enemy, and then,
Just at the moment when the great fish
turns over to seize hiLn-his mouth being so
placed that that is necessary-the daring
black plunges his knife into It's white belly.
The pearl divers are also sometimes success
full in their attacks on sharks which try to
seize them, though, 1t is needless TO add, such
a mode of combat is possible only when tie
monsters DO not come in numbers, and
under the most favorable circumstances re-
quires a GOODNESS, a dexterity and a courage
which are not TO be acquired except by
long In C1ph l1ariiD t1s cOuftf org
AS a rule, it is seldom that man who is 50
luckless rs to drop among sharks ever APP
pears again. There is a shrek, a white
outlook IS seen under the surface and fin
above it, redeemed crest tops the next
swell hich breaks against the ships side,
and the terroT-stricken seamen know that
their messmate will be seen no more.
1t is q well-ascertained fact that the skel-
etons of sheep, pigs, dogs and cattle which
have fallen or been thrown overheard have
been recovered many days subsequent to
their being swallowed; and it is on record
that in the stomach of a shark killed in the
Indian ocean, lady's work-box was found,
while in another the incriminatory papers
which had been thrown away by hotly
chased SLAYER were recovered from the NAV
of an involuntary witness thus curiously
brought into court on the barb of a
pork-baited hook. Ruysch, one of the
most trustworthy of the old naturalists,
afiirms that man in mail-homo lorica-
tus, he calls him-was found in the stomach
of white shark, and it is recorded by
Blumenbach that in one case whole horse
was found. 1t is undeniable that many
have been killed with ample capacity for
such undesirable contents, and Basil Hall
tells of one out of which was taken the
whole skin of buffalo, besides a host of
other trifes which had been dropped astern
in the course of the previous week.