The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03
PLEA FOR THE SHARK.
Ancient Publications Rejecting Sc
riOusIy Upon Him Denied.

From the Spectator.
Many people win doubtless be surprised
to hear that there Is anything to be said
in favor of the shark. The squalldae
have so long been subject to cruelty only
possible of ignorant prejudice, that the
very name of shark is a synonyme for
anything rapacious, INSCRIPTIONS and
wholly detestable. A few half-hearted at4
tempts have been made at intervals for
centuries to stem the food of hatred but
they have been overwhelmed by the tor
rent of falsehood in the shape of anecdotes
which has been steadily flowing for so
many generations. II Is hardly too much
to say that no creature known to man
has continued so long under the stigma Of
ancient fabrications as the shark. Anec
doteS which If told of any other animal
would have been laughed into oblivion cen
turtles ago are still current about him.
One is amazed TO find in. ancient records
tales which, originally invented about nat
ural things under the influence of SUPER
sutlous terror, are manfestly the source
of modern shark yarns
The perpetuation of these fables in the
case of the shark is perhaps IN some
slight degree excusable Men who have
had the most ample opportunities for OBJ
servation have culpably neglected them,
and it is absurd to expect professors OF
natural history to be seamen and fisher
men. Their duties are engrossing enough
as 1t is, without expecting them to be-
come personally acquainted with the crea-
lures they classify each In his own proper
habitat. But seamen generally might rem
der splendid aid to science by noting with
careful watchfulness the characteristic
habits of marine creatures with which they
In,
to tell stories which they could easily
prove to be untrue, merely because they
have heard them from their boyhood
One of the most firmly held beliefs con-
corning sharks is that they prefer the flesh
of man to any other food. Now, the fact
is that the shark family, with a few ex-
ceptons, are natural eaters of offal-scav-
engers OF the sea They are the only large
fish that perform this most useful func-
ton. As rule the duty OF devouring the
innumerable dead things which would 9TH
eFwise pollute the sea deVolves' upon the
crustacea. But the omnlyorous squalidae,
with their enormous stomachs abnormal
powers of digestion and apparently insa-
table appetites, patrol the waters for car
rion that floats, thereby tightening the
labors OF the toillng workers at the bot
tom. in consequence of this prowlIng
habit they are often near the surface.
where men may be unfortunate enough 10
fall In their way. Then, II the human an
imal be unskillfuI and tmid he VIII most
probably be devOured by sharks, not be-
cause he is man, but because he repre-
Sents easily obtainable food For the
shark, though a swift enough swimmer. IL
handicapped by the peculiar position of
his mouth. Under ordinary conditions
there are no fish so slow of movement
that they cannot escape while the I'M
wleldy Squalls Is bringing his body into
position to bite. Even man, when well
accustomed to the water and the linita-
tons OF sharks, can always successfully
eiude them. As to their preferences for
blacks, It is pure myth, without the faint
est foundation in fact. In many places
visited by the writer where sharks were
the commonest of fish, black men were
constantly swimming and diving without
paying apparently any heed to the hungry
monsters In their immediate vicinity; yet
never one of them was injured.
During the cutting in" Of a wbala a,
Hapai the water near the carcass v,ss
literally boiling with the largest sharks
existing anywhere. 1t seemed probable
that before the blubber was all strinned
the ravening monsters, many of them
fully as long as one OF our whaleboafs
would have eaten a costly proportion Of Il,
50 energetic were they. At the same lime
the natives lowering around In their Ca
noes were constantly I'm and out of The
water, actually among the sharks. heed
ing them no more than If they had been
so many sprats. On several occasions n
has also been the writer's doubtful priv-
ilege to spend hours in the water cling
ing 10 fragments Of broken boats I'm lbe
immediate vicinity of a dead whale. And
although ones legs always felt Insecure
every touch seeming 10 promise their in
slant loss, casualties OF that kind never
happened Nor among the countless stbres
of the whale fishery current among south
Sea men has the writer ever heard OF 4
man being seized by sharks when IN Inc
water near dead whale. As TO the PROV
ess Of these monsters, and the numbers
of them that congregate wherever food
is 10 be had, IL may be interesting 20 re-
cord the following fact We had killed a
large bull humpback (megap tera) Ia shoal
water near Tongatabu. switch sank at
death. Unable to raise II for want of
gear, that night one boat remained on
the spot while the others returned Go he
ship. In less than one hour from the sink
Ing Of the carcass there We're at the low |
est computation five hundred large sharks |
around the place.
Many Of them were so large that we |
could hardly persuade ourselves that they !