Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-02-23
NOT AFRAID OF MAN EATERS.
How Three Sandwich Islanders disposed
Of Big Shark.

of Big Shark.
"The Kanakas of Honolulu" gays
naval officer in the New York Sun,
"do not appear to be the least bit
afraid Of maneaters, and they will oc-
casionally tackle them single-handed,
with nothing but a long knife for
weapon. I was attached to gunboat
anchored in Honolulu harbcr.a couple
of years ago. We were coaling ship,
preparatory to making cruise Of the
islands. The big coal lighters, loading
a hundred ton or so of coal, were load
ed at the dock and then towed to the
side of the ship. The coal was hoisted
into the bunkers from the lighters by
men forward. Well, one of the light
ers was overloaded at the dock, and
when it was brought alongside the ship
ready to be made fast, it began to set
tie, turned over and sank in twenty
feet Of crystal-clear water, taking about
125 tons of lump steaming coal with
it. OF course, the coal didn't belong
to the ship until it was aboard Of the
ship, in accordance with the terms oil
the contract, and SO the coal dealer had
to stand the loss. He employed about
twenty Kanaka men to dive for the
coal and bring as many big Jumps tc
the surface as they could get hold of. A
lighter was anchored beside the ship
to receive the coal thus regained from
the bottom. The Kanakas worked
without any sort of diving apparatus,
and they got eighty tons of the coal,
too. Suspended from strings around
their necks each had long, sharp
knife for sharks. They'd hang over
the side of the lighter for a minute,
give a couple Of twists to their legs and
after minute of so they'd reappear at
the surface of the water with a hunk
of coal in their arms. Then they would
heave the lump into the lighter and go
down again.
"a group Of officers were standing al
the gangway. watching the men prepare
to go to work one morning after the
coal raising had been going on for
couple of days, when we noticed that
there seemed to be commotion among
the Kanakas They began to jabber ex-
citedly in their queer, musical Ian
guage and to feel of the sharpness OF
their knives hanging around their
necks. Their eyes were keener than
ours, and they had seen maneater
asleep directly under the lighter
Three of the Kanakas, magnificent
giant-muscled men, the pick OF the
gang, took the strings from their
knives, grasped the knives in their
right hands, stepped over the side OF
The lighter, hung to the gunwhale with
their left hands for a second or two,
and then, altogether, they gave that
queer wrisgle to their legs and dis
appeared. In about five seconds big
bubbles began to come to the surface
of the water, and about five seconds
later the bubbles took on the hue OF
blood.
"'That settles one Kanaka, If not the
whole three of them said we on the
gangYay. But the Kanakas in the
lighter only smiled. The next thing
we saw was gigantic shark thrashins
the water crazily on the port side OF the
lighter, and incarnadining the sea
within a radius of fifty feet with ltj
blood. Then the three Kanakas came
up, all in bunch, like trio OF jacks
in-the-box, with contented smiles on
their bland faces. The shark thrasneG
around without any eyes for five min
utes or so, and at. the end of that time
he was as dead as salted mackerei'
the whole eighteen feet of him. Ihe
three Kanakas had tackled him alto
gether' as he slept, had driven their
knives into his vulnerable parts, and
before the maneater had a show
to pull himself together he was as goodA
as dead"