The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-25
SAVED FROM THE SHARK.
And the Mysterious Saving Agency
Was in the Bottom of the Sea.
From the netroit E,ree Press

W as Al bhS oO1bOnA VI JAAO JOe&s
From the Detroit Free Press.
We were fishing in Appalachee Bay on
the south coast Of Florida, just off the
town of St. Marks There were five of
us in the boat-four men and a boy IA
years of age, named Harry Rogers. His
mother was widow, and they were stop
ping with friends in the town. They
were. i'll remember right, from Nash
Vile
We had caught number of small fish
when a school of sharks suddenly APP
peared, to spoil all further sport. Every one
of our hooks was bitten off inside of a min
ute, and the sharks showed themselves
all around the boat. Big and little, there
were dozen of them skimming about,
and the boss of the school was a monster
about fifteen feet long. He was one OF
the man-eating species, and not bit
afraid of us. Indeed, we had cause to be
afraid of him. He seemed to be des-
perately hungry, and for awhile he acted
as if he meant to jump into the boat. He
finally quieted down and took up his sta
tion broadside on to US, and only ten feet
away. There he lay, cycling every move
ment of OnrS, but never so much as WaV-
ing fin himself, until we decided that
we might as well up anchor and pull in.
We were anchored in thirty feet of
water, having a regular boat anchor and
chain. One of the men had just seized
the chain, when we felt q vigorous tug at
it, and the next moment the boat was
rushing through the water as if urged by
two pairs of oars. A fish or submarine
creature of some sort had become en-
tangled in the anchor. / cannot tell you
what it was, as 1t did not rise to the sur
face, but it 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 q
tug. All of us realized just what had hap
pened, and for the first few minutes we
rather enjoyed it. Then we found we
were likely to be towed out to sea, and,
with the sky threatening a squall, this
was not a very pleasant prospect. Had
the cable been rope we should have cut
it, but it was chain, and there was no
way to either sever it or loosen 1t from
the staple in the bow. The four men of
US crept 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 it to the surface 2iH. 2af
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 off, and in
grabbing for it he lost his balance and
went overheard. 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 float,
and no one doubted that the big shark
would seize him before three minutes had
passed. Fortunately for Harry, he was
good swimmer, and was also lightly clad.
We could do nothing to aid him, but we
all shouted to him to splash the water
with hands and feet to keep the shark
off He heard and understood. He did
even better than we hoped for. He had
on light canvas shoes; these he managed
to pull off while treading water. He
also got his coat and vest off, and the
shark, no doubt. swallowed shoes and
clothing. Harry told US afterward that
the monster kept circling about him, evil
IDENTIFY bent on dashing in and selling him,
but deferred by the vigorous splashing.
While we were fully realizing our help
lessness, the unknown creature whose
action had caused our misfortune sud
denly turned to the east 1t towed us a
few rods in that direction, and then
turned to the north, or shoreward. 1t no
doubt wanted to get rid of the anchor as
badly as we wanted it to, and was ma
king every effort to do so. To our amaze
ment it had towed US only a cables
length shoreward when it bore off to the
left, seeming to be following some chan
mel, and headed straight for the boy We
cheered and called out to him, and while
one got the boat hook ready the others
prepared their fish lines for a throw
Our tug" kept pretty straight course
for him, towing US at the rate of about
six miles an hour, and as he saw US COM
ing he struck out to intercept the boat.
We all stood up and shouted, hoping to
keep the shark Off and it is fact that
we ran so close to the boy that one of our
party, Major Davis of Cincinnati,
seized him by the shoulder and drew
him in. The shark was not ten feet
away at the time.
The boy had been scarcely pulled in
when our tug changed its course to the
west and ran US two miles on to the shoal
called Turtle Bank. The water here was
not over six feet Deep but so thick and
muddy that we could not make out the
creat ure al the other end of the chain
However, in some manner unknown to US,
it managed TO get free of the anchor and
went off, making great commotion, and
that ended our adventure. The boy had
tainted away as soon as he realized that
the danger had passed, and we had pulled
almost to the wharf before he came TO-
Few men would have displayed the cool
ness he did under the circum-
stances We could not throw him
one of the oars, as they
were chained to prevent the beachcom-
bers from stealing them, and he had to
support himself entirely by his own ex-
ertions. He kept turning to face the
shark, and had he ceased splashing for
fifteen seconds it would have been all day
with him. He said he had no hope OF
rescue, bet was determined to hold out as
long as possible. But for the strange ac-
tions OF the creature which had picked up
our anchor, the big shark would have had
a Tennessee boy for dinner that day. He
followed us almost 70 the wharf, seeming
10th 10 give up, and when he turned to
leave US he gave his tail an angry flap
which threw water clear over our boat.
"They have thrown me overheard
said a disappointed politician, but
have strength enough 10 swim 10 the
L. q. u.