FIGHT WITH SHARK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 November 1924, Page 12

FIGHT WITH SHARK.

EXTRAORDINARY STORY. An extraordinary story 'of a fight witn. a 10ft. sharK off tne Town Tier, Port Melbourne, was told Oy Gordon Smith, aged 20, of Port' Melbourne. Smith, a painter and decorator, said : “On Saturday, at about 2.30 p.m., I went to the Town Pier to have a look at H.M.A.S. Parramatta. There was a fair-sized crowd there, half-way up the pier. “Suddenly I heard shouts behind-me. About 30 or 40 yards out, on the Prince’s Pier side, I saw a boy in file' water. I could see that a shark had seized him. I watched for several minutes without realising, anything. Then I thought of the boy’s terrible danger. Jumping down on to the jetty, I took off my boots, my coat and waistcoat, and one of my .pairs of trousers —for years I have worn two pairs, a habit I have got into while doing-my painting. “A fisherman lent me a penknife, and, armed lyith this, I dived into the water and swam as I have never swum before. “When I got up to the lwy,. who was in about 20 feet of water, the shark had hold or his left leg. and the water all round was red with blood. I got the boy by the shoulder and pulled him away. Then I turned to the shark. I know something about sharks and as I stabbed this one in the side I didn’t give him a' chance to turn over and bite. “With the first stab he came for me. I don’t know how long he was attacking me. It seemed ten minutes, f managed to get several jabs at him, "nd then landed one squarely between the eves. I left the knife sticking in his skull. Then he made off. It was the crowd who told me later that it was a 10ft. shark. “The boy, in the meanwhile, was swimming in the direction of the beach. He was all out. I went over to him and broil "lit him to the jetty, where the crowd by now wa.s big. “ ... 1 A ivoman gave me a. hankerchief. itli this I bound up the boy’s leg, "•hHi was bleeding freely. I also tied u°aiures to prevent further loss of blood. “After I had dressed, several of the onlookers assisted me to carry the boy —who said his name was Fred White—to the end of the pier. There T put him on niv hank and took him to Ranks front, "’here he is living with his mother.”