The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1903-10-12
TIE TIGER
OF TIE SEA

Inc English brig Ruby for a voyage
from London to Ceylon, calling at the
island of Mauritius. or tho east coas.
Of Madagascar. From London to the
island not a single shark was sighted.
Thirty miles or the island. as the voy-
age was resumed, Il shark, judged 10
be twenty feet long, suddenly appearea
on the port quarter not over fifteen
feet from tie side of the vessel.
we tempted him with all kinds Of
bait. but lie refused everything. First
we gave HIN Il piece Of pork on 8 hook.
lie paid no attention to it. We chang
cd to bees. then to chicken. but be
would tc-ca neither.
II vss n0aa next day before We tried
the shark a-ain. but we had no bette
luck. lie simply ignored TIC bait. Tn
mon began - whisper about accident
and death. snd the captain broGEs
Up q b!uales.uss loaded with siugs ana
tooE n feir slot at tho fellow. lie YES
oaly about Il foot below Jho surface.
and the heavy charge struck him a
the base e. tie dorsal in and nearly
tore It away. The sLari made Il sat}
den rash. bat only for q few feet. THE
smoke Lad net yet blown away who
lie resumed his old position. His star.
vas oue CT surprise Instead Of pain.
lie lad learned caution. however. ana
lie sank down until he lad tive feet Of
water over Kim. Some Of the mca
dropped objects over the bow with 4
great splashing, but the shark paid no
attention to tie noise.
For nine long days and nights he
kept the place where we had first seen
him. and during this time we had two
or three squalls aad two days of heavy
weather. So long as a man leaned
over the rail to watch him he kept his
wicked eyes fastened on that man. aad
when any one was aloft and laying
out on a yard the brute's jaws could
be seen working as if he had the taste
of Il sailor on his tongue. He might
have followed US to the end of the yoy-
age but for a curious incident.
On the morning Of the ninth day we
approached q large swordGsh sleeping
on the dancing waves. We were with
in a hundred feet of him when the
creaking OF the yards or the voices of
the men disturbed him and he came
tearing down on the port side and ran
right over the shark and away out of
sight. If the shark was not struck he
was at least badly frightened, for he
made off and we did not set eyes on
him again,
While the American bark Rocket,
from New York to Santos, was lying
becalmed or the equator, a shark TWEEN
ty-four feet long suddenly appeared
on her starboard side amidships and
only a few yards away. He lay head
and tail with the ship. and the car
penter got his length TO an inch by
measurements along the rail. The
spread of the monsters jaws was such
that he could easily have taken a -four
barrel into his mouth.
There was no shark hook aboard.
but the captain, being willing to divert
the crew, gave them leave to throw
over a lot of pork which had become
unfit for eating. There were four full
barrels of this pork, and it was fed out
piece by piece to that shark till the
last pound was gone. 1t was so stated
by officers and men, and there is no
reason to doubt their yeracity.
When the pork was finished, a piece
of beef was thrown over the port rail.
and the shark dived under the ship
and seized it. How much longer he
would have gone on eating no one
could say, as there was no more to
give him. He seemed to be as raven
Jus for the last piece as for the first.
How one shark could hold all that
meat and another go eight days with
out eating a thing is yet another ques-
ton for discussion.
While off the southeast coast of
Java in the New Bedford whaler
Joshua Lee we one day came upon a
native craft floating on her beam ends.
She had a crew of six men aboard,
but they were frightened and helpless.
The craft had no cargo in her and had
taken considerable water through her
single hatchway, which had been left
open.
We sent a boat and cut away her
masts and rlghted her, and then a
strange discovery was made. There
was three feet OF water in her hold.
and dashing about in the water was 4
shark fourteen feet long. He had come
aboard with a sea, and instead Of being
left on deck had gone down the hatch
way. The natives abandoned the wreck
for the whaler, and three weeks later
she was drifted ashore on the Sandal
wood island with the shark still alive
and rushing about, although he had
had nothing TO eat and the water was
very foul.
On that same cruise the whSler ran
into the port of Barring. Java, TO make
repairs. Some fishermen had cauSh;
a shark nine feet long in their nets. and
he had haen living on the bench three