Morning journal and courier., 1891-10-15
A Shark Story.
From Harper's Young People.

There are about sixty species of sharks much dreaded creature is found in every sea ploughed by the keel of @ ship. Some of them, such as the dog-fsh, are not more than two feet long, while others are from thirty to fifty feet. But they are nearly all ferocious, and the store at this one reads in Marryats novels about the many men who have been devoured by these ravenous creatures are strictly true. The shark known as the man-eater-a huge beast from twenty-five to forty feet long-will lie for days near 8 ship, pick ing up the garbage that falls overheard. With one snap of his jaws he can cut the body of a man in two.
 All the fishermen along our coasts dread sharks and tell stories about their feroci- ty, but they are not deterred from hunt ing them, as the fish is very valuable for the oil obtained from it. There are many ways of catching sharks. Some fishermen trap them in strong nets held by heavy grapnels and anchors; many expert hunt CTS fire small bombs into them, which Of ten kill the fish instantly; others pursue them with harpoons in the same way as the whale is caught. But the larger num- Der Of sharks are captured with hooks. They take almost any kind of bait, but what they prefer most is fat pork, which the fishermen put on a large hook, to which is attached a stout bank-line.
 A Canadian fisherman who walked with halt once said to me, "Yeu wonder, per haps, why I walk like thls. Well, it comes of shark-catching. One day last summer, when we could get no codfsh either with nets or hooks, we thought we had better try for dog-fsh, or, rather, small sharks, for lot of them had been hanging around us for 8 couple of days. All other fish were scarce, and that is the reason why the sharks kept so close to us When anything was thrown over | board shark would thrust his head out | of the water and seize it. There is lot | of oil to be got from sharks and dog-fsh, | and about August the liver of the dog fish is nearly all fat So We put out our lines, stout bank-lines they were, batting them with fat pork, and patiently awaited the result. We did not expect to catch any | big sharks, but only the dog fish, which | we knew were around in shoals. The rest | of the crew began to haul in dog fish as fast as they could, because the brutes were hungry and snapped at everything they conld eat I also caught two or three dog l fish and unlocked them. The dog fish is | only couple of feet long, and it isn't | hard to pull him in, but his fins will cut you; and his skin, under the name of shagreen, is used by cabinet-makers and other woodworkers instead of sand-paper, l it is so rough and hard. Again I threw out my hook and line, and this time felt a | tremendous tug at it. I pulled pretty hard, but couldn't draw the fish, and one of my mates standing near me said, 'You have got hold of one of the big fellows;
 be easy with him now; he will be worth a hundred of these I had caught big | sharks before and knew how to manage, ! though this was an extremely savage one
 He dove nearly plumb down into the sea
 and I let out line as fast as was necessary; then he turned and shot up for the sur face, and darted in one direction and an- other for nearly fifteen minutes, until l tired him out Then dragged him along
 side, not pulling too hard, lest l should
 tear out the hook, and when l got him to
 the water-line there was not much life left in him. We 'bowsed' him aboard and let him flop on the deck. He was thirteen
 feet long. and had mouth large enough
 to bite off and swallow the half of a man.
 I was foolish enough to go up by his head
 and begin to take off the rope; but l had
 no sooner done so than he turned on his
 side and seized my leg in his jaws. One
 of my mates grabbed an axe, and running
 over, struck the shark five or six times
 ripon the head with all his might. That
 stunned him and his jaws opened. But
 he had broken the bone of my leg at the
 knee and bitten out nearly pound of
 flesh, besides cutting one of the tendons.
 That is the reason why l am lame. The
 best way to make sure about shark is
 either to break it's skull when you get him
 aboard or fire two or three bullets through l ifa D