The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-16
THE QUEER WAYS OF SHARKS.
Impudent in General, but Can't Stand
Commotion in the Water.

Zone horror of sea fighting I believe
our sailors will be spared in this war,
said veteran of the merchant marine,
tand that is the large chances of being
killed by sharks. The whole OF the Car
ibbean Sea about Cuba swarms with those
internal things and, as rule, when
man drops overheard, the chances are
that in another minute nothing will be
left of him ON the surface but some red
stains in the water, unless he keeps his
presence of mind and knows just what
to do.
There is a way of helping yourself
when you get into that fix. That's just
why 1 say that in these modern battles
the danger from sharks is not likely to be
anything like what it was in old times.
Perhaps you are not aware that shark
is the most timid and nervous fish of prey
that lives, but it is so. When you find
yourself floating about in those waters
| and think a shark is anywhere near you
| just you kick and splash for all you are
| worth. If you don't think there are any
sharks about kick and splash on gone raj
principles-that is, if you want to see
your home and your family again. A
shark that is making straight for his
prey will turn tail and sheer off as soon
as the splashing begins. Now 1 believe
that in general engagement between
these modern ships, what with the ire
mendous conclusion of the heavy guns
and the churning of the water with pro-
pellers on all sides and an occasional tor
pedo raising disturbance every now and
then in the water the whole neighbor-
hood will be cleared of sharks
''In the old days, although the broad
sides made a good deal Of noise, no
doubt, ship went down much more
quietly than now. just think of the COM
motion in the water when the big fires
and the boilers go under. No shark will
stay within mile Of such an upheaval.
IL am not talking mere theory when I
say that shark can be frightened off by
splashing. l have seen it done, or, to bs
quite exact l saw the man Who did it
just after he had scrambled out of the
water. He had been in bathing in one of
those sea baths they have in Kingston
harbor, where they fence in good piece
OF water with piles driven into the bot
tom close together. One of the piles had
got broken somehow, and big basking
around. By that time the man was some
yards away from the steps. He immedi-
ately turned on his back and kicked as
hard as he could, and the shark, instea
of charging at him, went into downright
panic and bumped his nose against all
the piles looking for the hole he had got
in by.
81 know it sounds like fable to say
shark is s.tlmid, because they will do
things that you would hardly expect a
tiInid fish to do. l myself have seen a
shark leap out of the water close enough
to a rowboat to tumble ON the oar blades,
but that was my own dinghy, and my
boys knew how to row, and didn't make
a splash with the blades or try any of
this land lubberly 'feathering' business.
Then there is place at Port Royal
where little flight of wooden steps goes
down into the water. and they say that a
British artillery officer who was sitting
on those steps-or some other steps that
were in the same place-one morning,
smoking q Cigar, had both his legs torn
off by shark that swan close in shore
and rose az him as a trout rises at fly.
But all that only shows that shark is a
queer, inconsistent kind of fish, and in
spite of all his impotence you may de-
pend upon it he can't stand anything
that makes disturbance in the water.
"Oh, yes, when the battle is over he
will follow the ship that has any wound
ed men on board-follow it for miles. I
don't know how he knows there is a
wounded man or a sick man on board
ship, any more than can tell how Moth
er Carey's chickens can read the barome-
ter, but he does know. You see, sea-
faring man has to be satisfied to know q
good many things that he can't explain. I"