The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-01-24
Nan-Eatiug Sharks.

shall never forget the time when
was a hand In a small fishing vessel that
tended the london market. The wealth
er was warm and fish scarce; some Of
the old hands thought some kind Of a
destructive fish was playing havoc, for
set our travis where we would they
were skinned as clean as though the
job was done by hand.
One evening two men that went in
dory No 3 brough. the news that the
sharks were plenty and we had better
ship to some other berth. The anchor
catNheaded, sails hOisJed and a course
laid out that would bring Us to Jefferies
bank, which lies about thirty or forty
miles of Portland The next morning
at daylight we were in our Gories and
proceeded 10 set our fishing gear. My
partner and / took the outside on the
western end, aud all went well We
were hauling in fish for half an hour,
with every promise OF a good cateh-
was hanling the trawl az the time,
and fell sudden tug and yak that
very nearly took me on, of The bow Of
the dUry.
knew DO WAS sharks in minute, and
stoppsd hauling to see il they would
show M. Suddenly there was a twitch
and pull harder than ever, and
hauled away ms lively as possible. know
Ing be would bite the lire IL he could to
clear himself
/ pulled and be tugged, but kept
the line coming all the time. First he
would tow US in one direction and the n
IN another, so surmised we had him
by the tail, and told ms partner TO have
q sharp knife ready 20 cut away.
After a long and hard pun got him
10 the top OF the water, and found that
he had taken Jw0 good bitches around
his tail aud was working hard TO get
clear. The mex, thing 70 do was TO get
his tail on The rail Of the dory and cut
clear. a strong pull by both OF us
placed him at our mercy, then 1 looked
overheard 20 see The kind OF q chap we
had, and il anything would make fish.
ermau feel blue would be a look from
that angry mau-eatiug shark that we
had fastened 10. He would curl up in
bow, look az us with those cold ewes and
slap his body about in a very dangerous
manner, but the line was strong and we
had him secure.
The only thing We could do was TO cut
of his tai, and lsy hin go clear Of the
trawl, and my partner held on 10 to one
side OF his Tail while 7 used the knife.
Ic a minute he was clear, and, with
hack and belly fms 10 pyopal with, dove
for the bottom. leaving @ trail Of blood
"fter him that knew would cause
-. Va came up with a rush,
jumping full leLFru ~ VI 'ie "1Isi'
and dropped so close to the ou.s '''A'
the splash nigh swamped us. We
hauled away clear OF him, and after We
got our gear we started TO row Tor the
vessel. After rowing short distance
we were in The midst 90 a school OF
man eating sharks that had scented the
blood o. their ml.mgd relative. Ny
partner was rowing new pair Of oars,
and they attracted th- sharks They
made snap after snap at the blades. and
as our dory was deep loaded with FISH
they appeared to think We would be an
easy prey.
50 hard did they press Us that the
new oars had TO be taken in and the dsh
thrown overheard 70 distract their at
tention.
We were within a quarter OF q mile
OF the vessel, aad had succeeded in shak
ing OF all but one Of them. He was a
small cus7, and would purr up alongside
the dory like q cat, and never left us
until we reached cur vessel and were
safe aboard.