THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET SCARY . . .
March 4, 1985 was when Shirley Ann Durdin, a 33-year-old with four children, lost her life to a GW in Peake Bay, Australia. She had been snorkeling in water about 7 feet deep - equivalent to the deep end of a residential swimming pool - when she was fatally attacked by a GW estimated by witnesses to be 20 feet long. The first hit was a gory strike, the fish biting her in half. By the time Mrs. Durdin's would-be rescuers could get to the site of the attack, all that could be seen was the victim's headless torso. After a moment, the GW returned and took it as well. It was the first fatal GW attack in South Australian waters in over 10 years and the first time ever that an Australian victim was known to be eaten.
To be eaten - think about it for more than a moment and you're likely to push the thought from your rational mind and back into the depths of your subconscious, a dark pit that contains all of the other fears of death that are too awful to comprehend - the fear of falling, the fear of burning, the fear of being buried alive . . .
Unfortunately, it is this pit where most first thoughts and impressions of the GW reside. It is only with a bit of academic smoke and mirrors that scientists and researchers can cover up what remains the primary fascination that humans have with the GW, the fact that it is one of a handful of animals alive today that can actually eat one of us alive - and sometimes does.
AMERICAN ATTACKS
THE JERSEY MAN-EATER (or the 'Jersey Person-Eater' for those more politically correct than I)
Although 'Jaws' is completely fictional, its account of what might happen if a big GW decided to camp offshore of a beach resort community faintly echoes the occurrences of a 12-day period in New Jersey during July of 1916. During this short span, five men were attacked by sharks with four of them being fatal. The first, a young man named Charles Vansant, was about 50 feet from shore when he was bitten on his left thigh. He died of massive blood loss less than two hours later.
Five days later, about 45 miles north of the first attack, Charles Bruder was hit by a shark that took both his feet. Although a lifeboat was launched at the moment he began to scream, he was about 400 feet from shore - too far to help. He perished within minutes of his arrival at shore.
Six days passed before the next incident. In what would be the worst of the Jersey attacks, a young boy named Lester Stillwell was pulled under while swimming with friends in Matawan Creek, some 30 miles north of the second attack. Several men dived into the creek to attempt a rescue only to have one of them, the ironically-named Stanley Fisher, bitten on his right thigh. A large amount of flesh was taken in the attack and although Fisher made it to the operating table, the damage was too great and he, too, fell victim to a shark.
The final victim was on his way to shore as word spread of the Stillwater-Fisher attacks but was too late. He was lucky, receiving only a laceration that managed to miss any major arteries.
The Jersey attacks are not noteworthy for being GW attacks. Although it is likely that a GW or a close relative like the mako shark was responsible for the first two attacks, no GW has ever demonstrated a propensity towards venturing into a freshwater (as opposed to seawater) area. The only shark noteworthy of this behavior is the bull shark and this was the likely suspect of the final three attacks. However, the media frenzy surrounding the attacks and the fears that they spread are indicative of the public's continuing fascination with shark attacks.
THE RED TRIANGLE & CALIFORNIA
Traveling west to the coast of California, we find that one particular stretch of coastline has acquired the ominous sobriquet of 'the Red Triangle'. This triangle stretches some 100 miles or so from Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, to Ano Nuevo Island near Santa Cruz with the corner of the triangle being the famous Farallon Islands. Since scientists began accurately tracking shark attacks and the species responsible for them some fifty or so years ago, the Red Triangle has been the world's leading site of GW attacks on humans, a somewhat gruesome distinction.
A highly publicized attack took place near the Red Triangle during the winter of 1981. A week before Christmas, Lewis Boren and his friends were surfing at Spanish Bay, just south of Monterey. After lunch, Boren returned to the water alone where he was attacked while on his 5-foot fiberglass surfboard. His board was found the next morning with a large piece missing in the classic shape of a bite mark. The piece was found later and Boren's body was found floating about a half-mile north of the attack site with a similar bite mark. It seems he was floating out to catch the larger waves offshore, his arms outstretched in front of him, when a large GW attacked, cleanly biting through both him and his board. From the bite radius on the corpse and the board, the size of the attacking GW has been estimated at 18-20 feet.
AUSTRALIAN ATTACKS
In addition to the attack on Mrs. Durdin, Australia has had its fair share of GW attacks. The most documented GW attack occurred in 1963 when Rodney Fox was attacked while competing in a spear fishing contest. He attempted to poke the eye of his attacker but only managed to stick his hand into the shark's mouth, slicing his arm open to the bone. The shark let go but attacked again with Fox grabbing its snout to avoid being bitten again. Weakened by loss of blood and running out of air, Fox let go and struggled to the surface. The shark attacked again but only grabbed the fish line clipped to his belt, pulling Fox down with it. The shark's teeth then severed the line and Fox finally made it into a waiting boat. Rushed to the hospital, Fox underwent emergency surgery, an operation that required 462 stitches to put him back together.
When man meets shark, the results are not often pretty.
Fox is hardly the only diver attacked in Australian waters. Abalone diving is a profitable, if highly dangerous, activity that often puts the divers in contact with the GW, sometimes with fatal results.
SOUTH AFRICAN ATTACKS
The final stop on our world tour is South Africa where the GW is joined by the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) as an attacker. Both sharks are kept at bay by the large network of steel nets that protect the beaches of South Africa, nets that drown hundreds of sharks each year along with countless other marine life. These nets were put in place after a series of attacks in the late 50's threatened to end tourism in Durban. These attacks have since been attributed mainly to C. leucas but the GW is a constant presence.sidential swimming pool - when she was fatally attacked by a GW estimated by witnesses to be 20 feet long. The first hit was a gory strike, the fish biting her in half. By the time Mrs. Durdin's would-be rescuers could get to the site of the attack, all that could be seen was the victim's headless torso. After a moment, the GW returned and took it as well. It was the first fatal GW attack in South Australian waters in over 10 years and the first time ever that an Australian victim was known to be eaten.
As Gruesome as it seems and sounds, Shark Attacks are just another way nature and the human race collide.....You only have 1 in 8 million Chances of ever being attacked by any shark in your lifetime.. which in some cases is better odds than winning your country's lottery system, and in others so remote why do we even bother mentioning the odds at all...Simply because when an attack does occur the frightening and horrific nature in which a shark does attack is so inhumane to us we have a "need" to know as the inquisitive if not morbid sides of our human nature take over...Sharks are an amazing predatorial animal we share our vast oceans with, fear them YES we indeed should, HATE them, no we should not, our growing knowledge of them and their amazing habitats and habitual natures is forever extending and growing and the more we begin to realise about them the more amazing and beautiful they appear. Sharks because of movies like Jaws will always have a fearful, horrific, monsterous, dark rooted appeal in our world, yet they truly are one of the most beautiful creatures of the deep.
Chomp..... Chomp!!
