Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-31
NAVIGATING SHARKS.
Authentic Instances " here the Sea Tigers
Have Devoured Their Victims.

Authentic Instances " here the Sea Tigers
Have DeVoured Their Victims
In a pamphlet recently published by physi-
cian Of this city on swimming and aquatic mat
tiers he auth states that cases where men
have been attacked AID devoursd by a single
shark are mythical More recently these views
we're sustained in a communication published
in TEE STAR
in letter TO the life saving service Capt.
George n. :. Watkins OF the British bark
Countess Of Derby, now living AT Baltimore,
fterales his statement that Samuel Coolidge. an
apprentice. aged eighteen, and an expert SWIM
ner. Nho tel overheard on December Is, was
devoured b. single monster shark. and.
furthermore. that The man at the wheel dis
tinctlv great sea Tiger wrestling with an
object. which must have been the unfortunate
had Al the place where he suddenly disappeared
beneath the surface. Continuing. Capt. Wat
kins gives the following interesting recital of
h. own experience
II was on board me park RJrns xark Of Bris-
toll palm oil trader. on the west coast of
Africa TO the windward Of Cape Lahow. where
We were at anchor The surf had been very
heavy for two DAYS. but on the third all the
bOats were IN Use bringing oil from The beach
20 the ship. One o.: the boats capsized and
another boat with natives put to its assistance.
and. noticing a commoi.on and shouting among
the natives. Iordcred nv rOwboy- 20 make for the
scene. | found two men in the surf boat en-
sleavOriug 90 trag by the shoulders into the
boat a native. whose lower portion Of the body
~a- fact IN the jaws Of a big man eater. With
the assistance % cur men the poor fellow
dragged in the boat and torn from the terrible
jAv- 20 fearfully lscerated that he died two
DAYS later. IL was CHASTITY sight and i shall
never forget the scsne-ths struggling rescuers,
the screaming. unhappy victim and the shark
Hnlffwo IN ff the fslfKu ~ IN thR-s axfnI iaUz
We astsrward caught tiger shark that meas
ured fourteen feet and whose Javs-which were
preserved BY Capt. Venning Of the Baraswarx
vsnt over nv shoulder. and | then measured
thirty-s-von inches around the chest
The vorAcitv OF sharks and their prediction
FOR human te-h. said traveller who has been
in the tropical seas. Is 80 established that
cannot understand it- questioning. have seen
hundreds Of these man eaters JhIt measured
from fifteen 20 twenty feet IN the south Pacific.
.at TO whom man would be but a good square
meal. On trip preceding one / once made
down along the west coast OF Mexico. the eugi-
neeT and a boy ~ the steamer eapsized their
boat right AZ the landing TO the little iron pier
~ Acapulco, and though there were a score of
natives on the pier almost within arms length,
thew Were dragged down and devOured in a
minute. the straw hat Of the engineer alone
floating on the surface. In tropical waters
shars- ten and twelve feet long are common
- had In a Connecticut river.
'fhi- reminds me % shark that il well
knowu To every Pacific Mail captain on the
Pacific that l. seen every now and then in the
barber u san Jose de Guatemala. who Is known
- Old san Juan. and for whose remains the
,iuatefnAllan government will give reward.
This old fellows axe must antedate American
settlement and his length Is varIously estimated
81 from tventy-three to tweuty-six :eet He
has been shot at by the hand batteries Of every
man-of-Nar that has put into the harbor mas
bal dynamite bombs exploded IN the water