The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-10-23
A SHARK STORY.

There are about sixty species of sharks
known to scientific observers, and this
much dreaded creature is found in every
sea ploughed by the keel of ship.
Some of them, such as the dog-fish, are
not more than two feet long, while
others are from thirty to fifty feet. But
they are really all ferocious, and the
stories that one reads in Marryats
novels about the many men who have
been devoured by these ravenous Great
lures 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 ship, picking 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
ferocity, but they are not deferred from
hunting them, as the fish is very vaua-
BILE 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 hunters fire small bombs
into them, which often kill the fish in
stantly; others pursue them with har-
poons 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 a stout bank line.
A Canadian fisherman who walked
with a halt once said to me: You
wonder, perhaps, why I walk like this.
Well, it comes of shark-catching. One
day last summer, when we could get no
Goldfish either with nets or hooks, we
thought we had better try for dog-tish,
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 is the reason why the
sharks kept so close to us. When any
thing was thrown overheard, shark
would thrust his head out of the water
and seize it. There is a lot of oil to be
cot from sharks and dog-fish, and about
August the liver of tile 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 re-
suit. We did not expect to catch any
big sharks, but only the dog-tish, 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 could eat. l also caught
two or three dog-fish, and unlocked
them The dog-fsh 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 wood
workers instead of sand-paper, it is SO
rough and hard. Again 1 threw out my
hook and line, and this time felt ire
mendous ting at it, 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
hundred of these 1 had caught big
sharks before, and knew how to manage,
though this was an extremely savage
one. He dove nearly plum down into
the sea, and let out line as fast as was
necessary; then he turned and shot up
for the surface, and darted in one direc-
ton and another for nearly fifteen
minutes, until tired him out. Then
dragged him alongside, not pulling toe
hard, lest should tear out the HOOK
and when l got him to the water-linC
there was not much life left in him. We
'bowsed' him on aboard, and let him
flop on the deck. He was thirteen feet
long, and had mouth large enough tC
bite off and swallow the half of man.
was foolish enough to go up to his heaC
and begin to take off the rope; put l hat
no sooner done so than he turned on hi'
side and seized my leg in his jaws. One
of my mates grabbed an axe, anC
running over, struck the shark five o.
six times upon the head with all hi
might. That stunned him, and his jaws
opened. But he had broken the bone o
my leg at the knee, and bitten on
nearly pound of flesh, besides cutting
one of the tendons. That is the reason
why am lame. The best way to maxi
sure about shark is either to break it
skull when you get hin aboard, or fir
two or three bullets through its brain.
-Hdrper'S Young People.