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

From the Spectator.
Many people viii doubtless be surprised
to hear that there Is anything to be said
in favor of the shark. The squalidae
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 at
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
to say that no creature known to man
has continued so long under the stigma. of
ancient tabrications as the shark. Anec
dotes which if told of any other animal
would have been laughed into Oblivion CEN
turtles ago are stHl current about him.
One is amazed to find in ancient records
tales which, originally invented about nat
ural things under the influence of super
suuous terror. are manifestly the source
of modern shark yarns.
The perpetuation of these fables i'm the
case OF the shark is perhaps In some
slight degree eXcusable. Men who have
had the most ample opportunities for OBJ
and 1t is absurd to expect professors OF
natural history to be seamen and fisher
men. Their duties are engrossing enough
as II 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 10 science by noting with
careful watcbfulness the characteristic
habits of marine creatures with which they
come in contact. They might also refuse
to tell stories which they could easily
prove to be untrue, merely because they
have heard them from their boyhood
one of the mosf 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-
ceptions. are natural eaters of offal-scav-
engers of the sea They are the only large
fish that perform this most useful func-
lion. As rule the duty of devourng the
innumerable dead things which would 9TH
erWise pollute the sea deVoyes upon the
crustacea. But the Omnlvorous squalidao
with their enormous stomachs, abnormal
powers of digestion and apparently insa-
liable appetites, patrol the waters for car
rion that floats, thereby tightening the
labors of the toiling workers at the bot
tom. In consequence OF this prowline
habit thew are often near the surface
where men may be unfortunate enough TO
N, human n
jmai be unskillful and timid he will 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 10
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
Wieldy Squalls Is bringing his body into
position to bite. Even man. when wen
accustomed to the water and the limita-
tons Of sharks, can always successfully
elude them. As TO their preference for
blacks, IL 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 10 the hungry
monsters in their immediate vicinity. vet
never one of them was injured.
During the cutting in Of a whale AZ
Hapai, the water near the carcass was
literally boiling with the largest sharks
existing anywhere. IT seemed nrobabI,
that before the blubber was all stripned
the ravening monsters, many Of tbem
fully as long as one Of our wbaIeboafs
would nave eaten costly proportion of h
50 energetic were they. AT the same inc
the natives lowering around in their Ca
noes were constantly in and out Of The
WHl'it HN'uHAiJ dLlDuS tne sharks. heed
ing them no moSe than If they had been
so many sprats. On several occasions II
has also been the writer's doubtfuI priv
ilege to spend hours in the water cling
ing 70 fragments of broken boats In re
immediate vicinity of a dead whale. Ana
although ones legs always felt insecure
every touch seeming to promise their ln-
slant loss. casualties OF that kind never
happened. Nor among the countless stories
Of the whale fishery current among Soufh
Sea men has the writer ever heard OF n |
man being seized by sharks when I'm The |
water near dead whale. As to the PROV |
ess of these monsters, and the numbers |
Of them that cOngregate wherever food |
is TO be had, IT may be interesting 10 re-
cord the following fact We had killed a
large bull humpback (megaptera) In shoal |
water near Tonga tabu, which sank 81 |
death. Unable TO raise il for want of /
gear, that night one boat remained on /
the spot while the others returned to The |
ship In less than one hour from the sink
Ing Of the carcass there were at the low
ast computation, five hundred large sharks
around the place.
Many of them were so large that we
could hardly persuade ourselves that they !