PET SHARKS IN PACIFIC

Kaikoura Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 49, 20 June 1938, Page 4

PET SHARKS IN PACIFIC

Tall stories of the Pacific were, told by Captain L. C. P. Tudway, of H.M.S. Leith, of the New Zealand Station, in a luncheon address to members of the United Service Institution, Sydney. “There is an island in the Malaita group where the natives have a tame shark,” he said. “It is a big fellow, about 2501 b in all, and they call him up by smacking paddles on the water. We saw them do this, but the Bishop told us more. He said that the children play with him, and in the early morning they can he seen riding on the shark’s back. “In the Solomons there are two islands, one of which has an excess of females. When they marry, the girls have to paddle across to the other island, and they are not allowed to return home. One girl returned home, so the natives appealed to the Bishop. He asked the girl how she got back, and she said, ‘I swam.’ but the Bishop had his doubts, as the distance was J 8 miles the current very strong, and the waters shark-infested. “ ‘ls that true?’ he pressed her, and she said, ‘Well, I rested on the way sometimes, as I had my shark with me, and I slept on his back.’ “That,” said the captain, “is what the Bishop said.” This, also, is a true one: “One evening Mr Tom Reardon and his son Mick, were fishing at the mouth of the Kahautara River when kawhai were very plentiful. Mick was out in a flatty and was lifting fish from the water. A shark about 7 feet in length rose to the surface and came near Mick’s boat and removed a kawhai from his hand. Mick therupon started to feed the shark from his hand. On witnessing this little incident, we are quite prepared to believe that shanks can be tamed.