The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-13
MANGLED AND
TORN BY SHARKS
Arizonan Oilers Terrible Ex-
perience al Salina
Cruz.

Twice dragged under water by a |
twelve-foot shark. his foot and arm. !
terribly mangled by the teeth Of The
voraeious fish, rendered unconscious /
by the pain and the terrible fear oc-
casioned by the unexpected attack and !
then thrown up on the beach BY a /
huge roller. bruised, bleeding and
stunned. was the terrible experience /
undergone last May by Frank Fond5r, |
at that time an ofler on the American
Hawaiian steamer Arizonan, now in |
Honolulu with that vessel after FIVE
months in the hospitals Of Salina cruz
and san Francisco. His body still
bears the marks or that terrible few
minutes when he battied for his life
in the waters off the beach at salina
Cruz, and these marks he VIII carry
with him 10 his grave.
The experience of this young sailor
IS the most remarkable shark story
that has ever been told At the time
he was attacked by the monster he
was standing in only FIVE feet of water,
a depth in which sharks have never
been known before 10 venture. espe-
cially along a coast where heavy
surf breaks as It does along that por-
ton of the Mexican coast where the
vessels Of the American Hawaiian line
lie at anchor. And his escape from a
horrible death is wonderful, due alto
gether to the fact that the struggle
shifted the man and shark within the
powerful impetus of one of the comb
ers. which threw them both high and
dry on the steeply sloping sands. the
teeth of the fish still fastened on the
hand Of his victim. Fortunate it was
for Fondor that his frightened COM
nanions were close at hand to seize
/ his unconscious body and prevent the
] returning waters from dragging him
/ back again into the sea, as ii did the
| whipping, threshing shark
Terribly mangled was that senseless
body. The right foot was crushed and
| the leg lacerated and mangled nearly 70
| the knee the muscles of the calf being
sliced into ribbons. His left thign
was slashed and torn and piece or
| flesh as large as a clenched INST torn
| bodily away. His right arm was also
/ mangIed and his hand was bitten
through and through, the fingers hang
/ ing by mere threads Of skin and sinew
/ In all. sixteen deep cuts were FOUND
/ and the condition of his hand and foot
was such that it was thought at nrst
! +E&t amnutation of both would De
| necessary If his life was to De saNei
AT all. Two hundred stitches were put
i, to close the gaping flesh wounds
! With Fondor in swimming at the
time were a number of the men from
/ tba Arizonan and the Texan. oscar
| Mvhre of Honolulu was standing with
| in a few feet of him when he first call
| al ont and was among those wao
| dragged him beyond the reach OF me
-r-at fish after the fright and pain
| +Iaf1 caused him to swoon. Up till hat
/ time the crews of the different SHIPS
/ had been bathing freely along the
i beach. but many swore of right there.
| Not the least interesting part OF
Fondor's experience was the series Oh
/ operations necessary TO preserve hls
/ hand and foot. Skin from his thlgh
| was removed and grated on the torn
narts IF the ankle and wrist and so
| successful have the operations oeeil
that today he is back performing MS
/ duties as an oiler on the big freighter.
| His body is terribly SCARED, but there
is no permanent injury with the ex-
ception of the loss of one finger and a
/ stiffness in another
Fondor is an Austrian, tTenty-fhree
wears old. and hesitates about teIhng
/ his experience. Strange to relate, ne
insists upon it that he felt no pam
a. any time while the shark had hold
Of him. placing the fact that he was
rendered unconscious solely TO nelns
dragged down under the water ana
nearly drowned and to the loss OF
| blood