Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-01-08
ATTACKED BY A SHARK.
1AriIllns Advsntare Of Diver NTH NAa.Eah
ing Bonstsr on Honolnlu.

ing Eonster on Honelalu.
The water front had something be.
sides the storm to talk about yester.
day. A diver. who gave mis- name as
Jim Hartley. cruised about Al Whites
oil tho morning helping to got steam
schooners OF the bar. and rewardiug
the loungers who placed them there
by telling Of wonderful encounter he
had with tiger shark month ago,
says the San Francisco Examiner.
Hartley said he was q de.erter from
an English ship, and had learned div
Ing in the old country. When his
funds gave out at Honolulu the first
job that presented itself was an ex.
ploration OF the sunken wreck of
hardware-laden vessel on tho outer
edge OF the reef. They rugged up
tho only diving apparatus in the
island. , said Hartley, 'and I tackled
1t. They gave me o little sloop to
work from, and found q reliable
fellow for helper The only weapon
/ had was a big knife, made out
OF the blade Of sheep-shears. l guess
anyhow. II looked Us though 1t was.
I made two descents. The first one
landed me among lot Of sharp rocks
and rough coral lodges that I didn't
like to move around among much for
fear OF cutting my air hose, which was
old and not over strong. I soon went
up. and on the next good tide made
another descent and this time I
hit thu bark just right. found
hole IN her port bow big enough
to poke q house through, and
was starting to go around to the other
side when I felt a jerk at both air hose
and signal line, accompanied by q
swirl OF the quiet. clear water aud q
sudden cloud thai told the story. I
knew that some big fish had fouled my
connections, but was not prepared
for what saw when / turned my win.
dows upward. A couple OF fathoms
over my head was the biggest shark /
ever saw, and man-eater II ever there
was ore. What did I do? I dropped
fat on my back mighty quick. / knew
that he would settle down on me 10
about a minute and that my chances
OF winning in a stand-up fight would
be slim. had two main fears, one
that he would break my hose and su-
other that the fellows in the boat would
see him and commence hauling me up.
II they did il was sure shot that Mr..
Shark would take my rubber suit for
the skin of Kanaka aud bite me In
two while I was In mid. water and
had no fighting leverage for my
feet I was lucky; the man 10
the sloop never pulled a pound. In
q minute. that seemed an hour, the
shark commenced to settle. Ho hauled
of few feet backward and then came
slowly forward again good deal
lower down, but still not low enough
to reach me. OF course had my knife
all ready long before this. He started
to back of again, and the next trip.
thinks !. would fetch him right at me,
mouth on. l did not want TO meet
him that way, and as he commenced
to move gave him the knife with
both hands right in the stomach. He
went like shot when the old shears.
blade stuug him, and sting him it did.
for drove it good and hard. with a
pulling slash that ripped him open for
good two feet. The whirl OF his
forked tail knocked me fat again and
kicked up so much sand that couldn't
see an Inch. l gave the line vicious
tug as soon as I could find II, and
away I went for daylight I passed
another one on the way up. but he
was baby compared with the fellow
down below, which was every inch OF
twelve feet long, as I'm living man.
They got me into the boat and pulled
my helmet off, and as soon as l got q
drink l felt better. l was all OF O
tremble for q good hour aftsrward,
and d pint OF perspiration ran out OF
my boots and jacket when I pulled
thom of. didn't want any moro OF
It, | made a report to the owners
that convinced them there was
no use trying to wreck the old hulk,
collected nay money and worked my
way up here with Captain Gritfiths."