St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-10-29
a SHARK STORY.

There are about sixty species
sharks known to scientific observers,
and this much-dreaded creature is
found in every sea ploughed by the
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 stories
that one reads in Marryat's 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 a ship, picking up
the garbage that falls overheard.
With one snap of his jaws he can cut
the body of man in two.
All the fishermen along our coasts
dread sharks, and tell stories about
their ferocity, but they are not de-
tered from hunting them, as the fish
from it. There are many ways of
catching sharks. Some fishermen
trap them in strong nets held by
heavy grapnels and anchors; many
expert hunters fire small bombs into
them, which often kills the fish in
stantly; Others pursue them with
harpOOns in the same way as the
whale is caught. But the larger
number 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
stout bank-line
A Canadian fisherman who walked
with a halt once said to me, You
wonder. perhaps, why l walk like
this. Well, it comes of shark-catch-
ing. One day last summer, when we
or hooks, we thought we had better
try for dog-hsh, or, rather, small
sharks, for lot of them had been
hanging around us for a couple Of
DAYS. All other fish were scarce, and
that was the reason why the sharks
kept so close to us. When anything
was thrown overheard, shark
would thrust his head out of the
water and seize it. There is lot Of
oil to be got from sharks and dog
fish, and about August the liver of
the dog-fsh is nearly all fat. So we
put out our lines, stout bank-lines
they were, batting them with fat
pork, and patiently awaited the re-
suit 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-hsh as fast as they
could, because the brutes were hun
CRY, and snapped at everything they
could eat. l also caught two or
three dog-fsh, and unlocked them.
The dog-fsh is only a 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-rnakers and other
wOOdworkers instead of sand-paper,
it is so rough and hard. Again l
threw out my hook and line, and
this time felt 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 | had caught
big sharks before, and knew how to
manage, though this was an extreme.
" savage one. He dove nearly
plump down into the sea, and [ let
down line as fast as was necessary
then he turned and shot up for the
surface, and darted in one direction
and another for nearly fifteen min
utes, until l tired him out Then
dragged him alongside, not pulling
too hard, lest | should tear out the
hook, and when 1 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 q
mouth large enough to bite off and
swallow the half of a man. 1 was
foolish enough to go up by his heac
and begin to take off the rope; but
had no sooner done so than he turned
on his side and seized my leg in hi:
Jaws. One of my mates grabbed ar
axe, and running over, struck tht
shark five or six times upon the heac
with all his might That stunned
him, and his jaws opened But ht
had broken the bone of my leg at the
knee, and bitten out nearly a pound
of flesh, besides cutting one of the
tendons. That is the reason why