Morning journal and courier., 1893-11-09
SAVED FROM THE SHARK.
And the MysterIous Saving Agency Was in the Bottom of the Sea.
 IErnrn fha natrnif Eraa Prasa

And the MysterIous Saving Agency
 wasfn the Bottom of the Sea.
 From the Detroit Free Press.l
 We were fishing in Appalaehee Bay on the South coast of Florida, just of the town of St. Marks. These were five of usin the boat-four men and a boy fourteen years of age, named Harry Rogers. His mother was 8 widow and they were stop ping with friends in the town. They were, if remember right, from Nashville.
 We had caught @ number of small fish to spoil all further sport. Every one of our hooks was bitten of inside of min ute, and the sharks showed themselves all around the boat. Big and little, there was doEsn of them skimmipg about and the boss of the school was a monster about ff- teen feet long. He was of the man-eating species and not bit afraid of us. Indeed. we had cause to be afraid of him. He seemed to be desperately hungry, and for awhile he acted as though he meant to jump into the boat. He finally quieted down, and took up his station broadside on to us, and only ten feet away. There he
 
 SO much ss waving fin of himself, until we decided that we might as well up an chor and pull in.
 We were anchored in about thirty feet of water, having regular boat and chain. One of the men had just seized the chain, when we felt vigorous tug at 1t, and the next, xt,moment the boat was rushing through the water as II urged by two pairs of oars. A fish or sub marine creature of some sort had become entangled in the anchor. I cannot tell you what it was, as it did not rise to the surface, but 1t was very strong and swift. We were about half mile of the beach when the anchor was picked up. The creature headed out into the bay and when it got fairly started the chain was as taut as If we were towing behind a tug. All of us realized what had happened, and l for the first few minutes we rather enjoyed it. Then we found we were likely to be lowed out to sea, and, with the sky threat ening a squall, this was not very pleasant | prospect Had the cable been 6 rope we | should have cut 1t, bat 1t was 8 chain and there was no way to either sever 1t or loos- | en 1t from the staple in the bow. The four | men of us crspt to the forward end of the boat, and, getting hold of the chain, pulled | with all our strength, but we could neither | check the speed of the creature nor lift 1t | to the surface.
 had noticed before going forward that the big shark was following us, his dorsAl fin showing six or eight inches above the surface, While we were engaged with the chain the boys hat blew of, and in grab ping for 1t he lost his balance and went oy- | erboard. We heard him cry out and when ! we looked around he was thirty feet astern in the wake of the boat. You can perhaps imagine our feelings! We hadn't thing to throw him as a float, and no one doubt ed that the big shark would seiEs him be- fore three minutes had passed. Fortunate ly for Harry, he was a good swimmer, and was also lightly clad. We could do noth- iug to aid him, but we all shouted to him to splash the water with the hands and feet to keep the shark off He heard and understood. He did even better than we had hoped for. He had on light canvas ehoes; these he managed to pull of while treading water. He also got his coat and vest of, and the shark no doubt swallowed shoes and clothing. Harry told after ward that the monster kept circling about him, evidently bent on dashing in and seizing him, but deterred by the vigorous splashing.
 While we were fully realizing our help. lessness, the unknown creature whose aot- ion had caused our misfortune turned to-
 ward the east. It lowed us 6 few rods in
 that direction, and then turned to the
 north, or shoreward. It no doubt wanted
 to get rid of the anchor as badly as we
 wanted 1t to, and was making every effori
 to do so. To our amszement 1t hsd towed
 us only 8 cables length shoreward when il
 bore of to the left, seeming to be follow.
 ing some channel and heading straight fol
 the boy. We cheered ard called out tc
 him and while one got the boat hook ready
 the others prepared their fish lines for
 throw. Our "tug" kept pretty straigh
 course for him, towing us st about the rat,
 of six miles an hour, and as he saw ul
 coming he struck out to intercept the boat
 We all stood up and shouted, hoping t' | keep the shark of, and 1t Is fact thst Vi
 ran so close to the boy that one of our par
 ty, Major Davis of Cincinnati, seized hin
 by the shoulder and drew him in. Tn
 shark was not ten feet away at the time.
 The boy had been scarcely pulled il 6 when our "tug" changed its course to tn d west and ran us two miles on to the shoa r. called Turtle Bank. The water here wa & not over six feet deep, but so thick ani muddy that we could not make out tn ], creature at the other end of the chain 6 However, In some manner unknown to ul d 1t managed to get free of the anchor an b went of, making great commotion an Is that ended our adventure. The boy hs F. tainted away as soon as he realised ths Ie the danger had passed, and we had pulle Ie almost to the wharf before he came ts
 Few men would have displayed the GOO r. could not throw him one of the oars, y they were chained to prevent the beaci " combers from stealing them, and he had 1 is support himself entirely by his own exc at tions. He kept tnrning to face the shal