Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-02-18
A TIGER OF THE SEAS.
The Thrilling Shark Yarn Told BY Diver
From Honolulu.

From Honolulu.
A diver, who gives his name as Jim
Hartley, told wonderful encounter he
had with tiger shark some time ago.
He laid the plot of the yarn just off
Diamond Head, Honolulu, and there is
no doubt shark material being plenti-
full enough in that locality
Hartley said he was a deserter from
an English ship, and had learned diving
In the old country. When his funds
gave out at Honolulu the first job that
preHented itself was the exploration of
a hardware-laden vessel on the outer
edge of the reef. Here is the story as
told by himself
They rugged up the only diving appar-
atus on the island tackled it, They
gave me little sloop to work from and
l sound reliable fellow for a helper.
The only weapon | had was big knife
made out of the blade of sheep shears,
/ guess anyhow it looked as though it
was. Every body told me about the
sharks, but l didn't anticipate any big
ones, and sharks don't bother a diver
much anyhow. 1 made two descents.
The first one landed me among a lot of
sharp rocks and rough coral lodges
that [ didn't much like to move around
amongst much for fear of cutting my
air-hose, which was old and not over
strong.
soon went up, and on the next good
tide made another descent, and this
time [ hit the bark just right. / found
hole in her port bow big enough to
poke house through, and was starting
to go around to the other side when /
felt jerk at both air hose and signal
line, accompanied by swirl of the
quiet, clear water that told the story.
I knew that some big fish had found my
connections, but was not prepared for
what / saw when / turned my windows
upward. A ouple of fathoms over my
head was the biggest shark | ever saw,
and man-eater if ever there was one.
His underside trap-door looked big
enough to take in whale, and I am
dead sure he was one of the tiger kind,
though the Kanakas tell me that species
is not common in these waters. He was
having a look at me, and was at stand
still when [ saw him. just waving his
fins enough to keep his position.
What did do? 1 dropped fiat on my
back mighty quick. I knew his game,
not from personal experience, but from
what some of my diving mates had told
me. l knew that he would settle down
on me in about minute and that nv
chances of winning in a stand-up fight
would be Slim
Scared! | should say so, but a diver
has got to keep his nut cool under any
circumstances, and I kept my little
thinker a-going at top speed. 1 had two
main fears, one that he would break my
hose and another chat the fellows in the
boat would see him and commence haul
ing me up. If they did it was a sure
shot that Mr.. Shark would take my
rubber suit for the skin of Kanaka
and bite me in two while | was in mid
water and had no fighting leverage for
my feet. | was lucky; the men in the
sloop never pulled pound
In a minute, that seemed an hour tn
shark commenced to settle. He
hauled off a few feet backward and
then came slowly forward again good
deal lower down, but still not low
enough down to reach me. Of course I
hto my hHlIc oil ready long DolOr0
this. He repeated the performance,
and this time passed within three feet
of me and stopped with his ugly yellow
stomach just over me. He started to
back off again, and the next trip,
thinks I, would fetch him right at me
mouth on. l didn't want to meet him
that way, and as he began to move 1
gave him the knife with both hands
right in the stomach.
He went like a shot when the old
shears-blade stung him, and sting him
it did, for [ drove it good and hard with
a pulling slash that ripped him open for
a good two feet The whirl of his
forled tail knocked me fiat again and
kicked up so much sand that / couldn't
see an inch. | gave the line a vicious
tug as soon as could find it, and away
[ went for daylight.
/ passed another one on the way up,
but he was baby compared with the
fellow down below, as / am living
man. They got me into the boat and
pulled my helmet off, and as soon as l
got drink [ felt better. / was all of
tremble for good hour afterward, and
pint of perspiration ran out of my
boots and jacket when pulled them
off.-San Francisco Examiner