The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-03-16
THE COWARDLY SHARK.
Experiences in Australia with Finny
Maneater.


found. Even in the waters about
Hobart, says Egbert T. Russell, writ
ing in the Australian monthly the
Lone Hand, the shark is common
object, and it is not so many years
ago that fishing party was griev-
ously alarmed when it's boat was sur
rounded by dozen or more ten
footers, which lent interest to the
proceedings by Tapping their tails
against the sides of the boat and
swapping at frenziedly pulled oar.
Yet despite the fact that the shark
is common in every Australian sea
and exceedingly so in every Austria
liam estuary and that people of vary
ing degrees of foolhardiness bathe
in both to the number of probably
millions yearly, shark tragedies are
so rare as to shock the entire COM
munity when they occur. Why the
shark should hesitate to take advan-
tage of the enormous quantities of
fresh human meat provided for him
, is a mystery which none of the theo-
ries advanced explain satisfactorily.
Perhaps the most feasible explana-
ton of all is that nature has i'm
planted in all the lower forms OF
animal life horrible fear of man, a
fear which has a considerable amount
Of reason in it and without which
there would probably be no lower
forms of life at all to-day and man
himself would be a vegetarian or a
cannibal.
During the last hundred years
thousands of boats have upset in Sgd
ney harbor, an area infested by
sharks, and yet not one OF the
foundering yatchsmen has ever been
attacked by shark. This goes to
indicate that the fearsome spectacle
of a huge white sail lying over the
water scared away all the sharks in
the vicinity.
1t is not so many years ago that
during high sea shark was wash
ed into the Bogie Hole at Bondi,
just outside the baths. Next day the
discovery was made and score of
residents gathered round, each pro-
pounding schemes for capturing the
fish alive. In the middle of the con-
sultation man in bathing costume
either skilled in shark habits or
yearning for fame-made a cynical
remark about catching the shark
himself while the others were talk
ing about it and dived with loud
splash into the hole The shark was
so frightened that by supershark
effort it scrambled rather than swan
over the ledge of rock running awash
and escaped into the bay.
Only few yards away within the
present year a 10 foot gray nurse
shark forgot it's principles or grew
suddenly courageous and made a
dash for a bather just outside the
surf. 1t had not gained many feet
before the shouting and splashing of
the other bathers in the water knock
ed out all of it's courage and it turn
ed tail and fed. Further there is
the experience of every surf bather
on all of the beaches that though
sharks may hover about the bathing
spots they refrain from venturing
close so long as a number of bathers
are present.
At night, when there are few
bathers or none at all, it is possible
to catch sharks from any of the ocean
beaches around Sydney with a hook
and line thrown from the waters
edge. That they are so caught is
manifest by the bodies which may
be seen lying along the beaches in
early mornings, in defiance of local
ordinances, bags of as many as a
dozen being recorded for four hours
work. But in the daytime, when
the shadows are thick with bathers,
not a shark is to be seen, or if fin
does show up occasionally it gives a
wide berth to the points where the
bathers are thick. The belief of the
surf bather that though the shark
may attack him alone it is not suf-
ficiently courageous to venture near
four or five or more, seems optimistic
to the person who knows not surf,
but experience seems to prove that
it has solid foundation of fact.
While the shark is generally timid
to the verge of cowardice and has
never in one recorded instance sum-
moned up enough courage to pit
itself against a number of human be-
ings it has displayed extra audacity
on occasions. Some years back a
man on horseback, stirrup deep, on