The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-10-22

SlElS anu ESCfOSSIIlS IIle STEAMER W dhS
in a peculiarly rapid manner. For
three consecutive trips the shark was
observed. and then one of the passen-
gers fired at him. cutting notch out
OF his dorsal fin by which the shark
was known for years, nearly always be-
ing sighted in a fifteen-mile run from
Cape Florida to Havana The shark
was named "Old BILL and there was
not a superstitious sailor on the run
who had not taken shot at him or
attempted to capture him.
The man-eater could not be induced
to take a baited hook, and it was be-
lieved by many Of the men that he
followed the vessel waiting for
wreck; and when a certain ship dlS-
appeared in a hurricane and went down
with all on board in the Florida straits
it was said that ''Old Bill'' went down
with her. In any event, he disappear
ed for months. He was now eighteen
feet long, of enormous bulk. He rarely
went north of Hatteras and then only
in summer, when he followed the shad
schools north, making the turn at Long
Island in June and the coast of Maine
some time later in summer. His habits
had changed. He preyed upon dead
animals, had become a scavenger, and
across the ocean to feed upon a dead
steer. He appeared to be too heavy
to run down a horse mackerel, and the
smaller fishes evaded him altogether,
though occasionally he found a school
of mackerel surrounded by a net and
would dash into them, craZed by the
scent of blood and slime, and gorge
himself with them
He was utterly insensible to pain, as
while entangled in a net he was lanced
several times by an Infatuated fisher
man; but the men noticed that he did
not stop eating, paying no attention to
the wounds; and when his size was
seen, the skipper ordered the men
aboard the schooner. On another oc-
casion. when entangled in a net near
Gloucester, five miles off shore, he de-
stroyed it, rolling over and over, Bit
ing the net, tearing it into countless
pieces. A dory man attacked him with
q harpoon, upon which he turned
savagely, gripped the cut-water in his
teeth, nearly crushing it and lifted the
boat several feet. The men pulled off
at glimpse of his size, and the next
day some of his teeth were found in
the planking.
One summer he came up the coast
searching for some cattle steamer, but
finding none he swan on, and attract
ed by the fishing boats, followed several
Food was scarce. Horse mackerel elud-
ed him. One day he ate huge jelly
fish in desperation, and next seized and
rent a mass of kelp in which a dead fish
was wound, which brought On a frenzy
for food and blood. A schooner was
fishing nearby, and as the men hauled
up fish. he would take them off, carry
inp
mouth with hooks to which he paid
little attention. Finally the fishing
stopped and he came to the surface
some distance off and seeing a dory
anchored. swan up to it, then circled
around 1t. His appearance must have
terrified the man for he grasped an
oar and struck a t the shark, shouting
for help. 1t was said later that the
shark deliberately tried to tip over the
boat by rising beneath it; but it is
historical fact that over a dozen
men and women on the schooner saw
the man eater rush at the dory, rise
over it amidships, saw the unfortunate
man waving his arms, then saw him
strike at the shark with the oar; but
the man-eater fell partly on the dory,
crushing it down, and then both dis
appeared. This incident occurred off
Nahant, and for several summers the
shark haunted the New England coast :
and the Gulf of Maine. He repeatedly /
attempted to capsze boats off Boon :
Island, and terrorized the dory cod +
fishermen and others by rising beneath +
them and swimming about the boats !
The big Shark under which alias he
was known, is still remembered by the
ole. fishermen of the coast
The man-eater had at one time been
quick of motion a swift h1pn IL
had learned the tricks and customs of
the fishes. He knew when the bluefish
hordes. the illions of shad came in
from the deep submerged submarine
pla Ledu upon which they wintered, and
with others he had followed them, Turk
ing about the mouths of rivers often
in, devouring other shark or
eating the hundreds of shad in nets.
This and more the great shark had
done. but now his enormous bulk, his
slow movements suggested different
life; the huge creature had reached the
1emoniacal climax of his development
He had fourteen or more rows of white
serrated, knifelike teeth; he moved
with great elaboration, and was APP !
parently incapable of rapid move
nent; but this was not altogether true,
he shark was really type of activity.
He could dart ahead or from side to
side, or turn upon his side with match
ess grace, but he rarely did; he now
slowly along searching for the
objects which suggested the game of
lis choice.
1t was this change of habit that
made the great white man-eater an
ocean wanderer. He avoided the shore
md attached himself to a large ship
which sailed from Boston to Liverpool, l
rallied it, like a hound on the scent,
or days, laid by it in storms and S
aims, and every bucket of refuse S
brown over brought the man-eater up l
rom astern with a rush He finally I
ost the trail of this ship in chasing a
onething she threw over, and was a L
thousand miles or more at sea. He
wan in every direction hoping to pick C
lp her scent wake: now madly, t
gain swimming slowly He dived j
own quarter of mile, searching for T
he bottom which was three miles be- 2
ond. but was driven up by the cold b
o swim along the surface on calm b
avs e