The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-04-22
BITTEN BY A SHARK,
EXCITING EXPERIENCE OF A FISHER
MAN IN NEW YORK WATERS.

The Moral to De Drawn From His Ad-
venture Seems to he, Do Not Catch
a Shark by Its Tail, It's u Highly
Dangerous Experiment.
Have you ever been bitten by sharks
OF course not, but have, and I can as
sure the reader that 1t 10 an extremely In
teresting and entertaining experience. 1t
happened to ms at the beginning of last
September, when the Undesirable heat
drove thousands Of people from the city.
A friend and sought the cooling breezes
Of the seashore-Brant's point in Jamaica
bay, being our place Of refuge-and we
went out on The water as soon as We ar.
rived from the City proper.
We caught number Of porgies before
sunset and laid for weakflsh in the even
ing, but were disappointed by strikes from
sharks, from whose ravats the ocean
trout fled. Angered by the depredations
of these hyenas Of the sea, we determined
to rig up especially for shark fishing the
next day, saving our porgies for bait and
Cumming. There are two methods of
catching sharks in the waters about here.
One is with rod and reel, by which speci-
mems up to 8 feet In length and 80
pounds in weight can be landed. The
other one is by brute force with drop
line or rope
Reports have been printed from time to
time that monsters weighing 800 to 500
pounds and from 10 to 10 feet long have
been taken In the waters Of Great South
bay, outer New York harbor, Shrewsbury
river and the Kills and Newark bay. To
kill such giant fish undoubtedly requires
Judgment and nerve, but not much skill
for II the line is strong enough the big fish
will finally exhaust itself and can then be
gradually drawn into the boat
We started the next morning in row.
boat from Brant's point for the grounds
generally frequented by sharks. After
coming to anchor we ohummsd with our
porgies and soon had a number of sharks
around us who gave unmistakable evil
dence Of their presence by showing thoir
dorsal fms and making great commo.
ton. We baited our hooks, cast out our
lines, and In few minutes had strike,
and battle royal ensued. As soon as the
brute felt the sharp hook imbedded In its
flesh 1t made wild dash for liberty. My
companion at once reeled In his line to
keep 1t from becoming entangled with my
own. With lightning speed my line play
ed Of, and, though click, brake and
thumb tried to slow It's motion, the wheel
turned around with alarming rapidity,
making that peculiar plaintive noise so
we'll known to fishermen. Ton, go, 30,
100 yards were quickly reeled Off, and I
began to wonder II he should ever stop
He hesitated, and then the Keeling in be-
gan, But the minute the fish was brought
closer to the boat he dashed of again in
another direction.
This play continued until the fisherman
was almost exhausted, and finally the
shark himself tried, through rest, to gain
fresh strength for another attempt to break
the line and regain his freedom. The last
run of the fish was toward the boat, COM
polling me to wind up the line SO quickly
as to mako my wrist and fingers ache.
He then allowed himself to he slowly pull.
ed alongside, and he turned out to be a
fine fellow about Az feet in length, grace
fully built, but ugly and vicious looking.
BY a dexterous thrust with his hand my
companion caught hold of the shark s tail
and landed him in the boat with bounce.
The prey now showed how much vitality |
he had left by beating the boat with his
powerful tail and snatchsng at everything |
in sight with his jaws. Our seats were
untenable and we speedily placed our
selves out of his reach, my friend perching |
OH the very bow and l hanging on to the /
extreme stern, leaving the fish in undis-
putcd control of the space between us, ev-
cry inch Of which he wanted for his mad
antics He dashed rod, reel and fishing
basket, seats and oars In his fury, but aft
cr awhile we managed to shackle his free
dom somewhat by ramming an oar down
his throat, which he gnawed in bulldog
fashion. The exposure to the air, to the
extreme heat and the parching rays of the
sun gradually weakened his efforts until
his stomach could be gashed so as to make
him bleed to death.
An autopsy revealed that he had swal-
lowed four cells, hermit crab, still alive
with shell and all hard shell clans, u
number of toadtlsh, sea robins, bass cum
ners and all sorts Of sen food How no
ever expected to digest the shelflsh was a
mystery to US
Our sport continued, shark after shark
being hooked, but some were lost When
my friend had his seventh strike, in went
my line, and l watched developments.
After persistent fight he coaxed the fish
and grabbed hold of his tail
with both hands and slammed him into
the boat, This specimen was four feet
long and unusually slender, and he turned
and turned around until good deal of
line became entangled. had meanwhile
cast out again and held rod and reel in my
nj ubt hind In, To hal |
ion out of his tangle grabbed the shark
with my left hand by his tail and kept him
as far from me as I could but quicker
than 1t can be told he turned completely
around, forming a letter o with his body
and, swapping at my hand, caught it with
his teeth, tearing out pieces Of flesh and
laccrating it badly. 1t is needless to say
that made myself heard ms dropped the
shark into the boat. From many wounds
the blood poured, and I dipped my hand
into the water TO wash them out II was
soon colored red, and the sudden appear
ance Of sharks at the very side of the boat
attracted by the blood, made me withdraw
il In great fright,
Quick surgical assistance seemed i'm
perative, rs we feared that an important
artery had been severed My friend
weighed anchor and rowed ashore We
had no cloth with which to make band
ago and begged the occupants of passing
sailboat for some linen. Their luncheon
was wrapped in napkin, which was put
over my fast swelling hand. A doctor
was at last found, but the wounds could
not be sewed up on account of the inflam-
nation which mad set in
With my uninjrred hand cut the jaws
out of tho shark and now discovered for
the first time that there were six rows Of
teeth, sharper than needless each tooth
having at Its root two harbcd prongs.
thcn realized what a narrow escape had
had from losing my whole hand and con.
graduated myself upon having got of
with only a dozen wounds and scratches,
more or less painful and serious have
kept the teeth as memento OF my adven-
ture and have also two big scars us SOU
venirs Of the day
The lesson to be drawn from my expert
ence Is, do not catch sharks by the tail; it
is dangerous. But with the dexterous use
Of the gaff there is little risk in this pas
York Post.