The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-12
A Monster Shark
Is Blown Into
Pieces.
STORM DROVE HIM
OVER THE REEF
South Sea Islanders Capture a
Great Fish and viii
Feast.
INDUSTRIOUS shark was CAPTURED

~ near the South Sea Island settle
ment yesterday. The fish strand
ed between the rifle range and the DOW
der magazine He had been washed in
from the sea, over the reef, by the great
waves which had been beating upon the
bar during the storm.
1t was a simple enough matter for the
shark to be washed over the reef but
the waves We're not obliging enough to
assist him back again into his native
deep, and so he fioundered around inside
of the bar, with his great body almost
half out of the water as he was forced,
little by little, into shallower places.
There was nothing for him to do but to
await miserable death, for. he could not
live very long where it was not deep
enough for him to swim and where he
could not get food
Early in the morning boys were out in
the shallow water and along the beach
looking for shells, of which many cu-
rious kinds are to be found in that VI
cinfty One of the party pointed with
excitement to a huge black mass which
seemed TO be struggling i'll the water
The whole crowd made for the myste-
rious object, not venturing too close
however, until they We're sure what II
was When they found that it was
shark and that it was still alive they
ran to notify the South Sea Islanders.
The latter were delighted when they
learned of all the good dinners In store
for them and turned out in force. Inc
shark moved very little between the time
of his being discovered by the boys ana
the time of the arrival of the South Sea
people on the scene.
How TO dispatch the monster was lhe
first thought of the Islanders. Ihey
might have killed him with knife or
could have ended him with d harpoon,
hut a more thorough method suggested
itself to the mind of one of the men, for
he bade the others wait until he returned
from the settlement. He was gone only
a little while, and when he came pf'ck
he warned his friends not to get too near
the shark, as he intended 10 ploW hllh
up with dynamite.
. The miserable monster seemed TO
know that the crowd of men and boys
watching him at safe distance were
intent upon doing him some INJURY, LOT
his struggles increased and he made des-
perate attempts to get into deep water
But the tide was low and the shark was
resting on the coral and his attempts to
give the hunters the slip were useless
Nevertheless he continued to lash the
water to a foam and the glitter of his
eyes which could be seen occasionally
when he made an unusually desperate ell
fort to find swimming room, told plainly
that he was in no amiable frame of
mind and that he would probably not be
backward in making 1t unpleasant Tor a
man if given the chance.
1t was thought at first that 1t was
somewhat strange that the shark had
remained in almost the same position as
when he was first noticed by the seek
ers for shells, and the theory was ad-
yanced that he mad had a fight with
some other denizen of the sea and that
he had come out second best and was
perhaps even then dying of wounds re-
} ceived. 1t was thought that monster
squid might have had hold of the shark
= and refused to let him go. All these
ideas were dispeiled, however, when he
was finally caught and landed on the
. beach. -, 49,, -..,,,.,, 49,, a-.,
mite and who had taken it upon himself
= to be the sharks executioner, approach
ed within yard or two of the great
fish with a stick of dynamite in his hand
He was smoking a cigarette at the time
: and depended upon this to light the fuse
watching his opportunity, when the
shark was not making quite so much fuss
4 as usual, the man, evidently used tC
: handling dynamite, coolly but quickly III
d the fuse with his cigarette and imme
diately hurled the stick of dynamite a
!. the visible back of the shark.
. The dynamite exploded a second or two
after it had left the hand of the throw
er. Suddenly the maddened lashing OF
the water ceased and all was still. 4
= dozen or more of the men jumped into
the water and half waded and half swan
= to the carcass. Their united efforts were
not sufficient to move the sea wolf. how.
. ever and more men were called, anG
: finally, after a great deal of work, the
> mass of shark-fesh was landed on the
. beach and men with axes and knives
went to work on the remains.
The man-eater was eighteen feet long
When his stomach was cut open It was
= found to contain, among other things, 6
A piece of what had evidently been a Jap.
:. anese kimona. 1t was only a small
piece but several of the men on hand
e when the shark was cut open declared
Il that the material could not be mistaken
: This discovery occasioned excitement a
!; the, time. 1t is possible that some Jap
: anese fisherman met with a pretty close
e call for his life not long ago.
d The action of the dynamite on the
:. shark was peculiar. The sharks upper
; teeth had been blown through his skull
and the great lower jaw had beer