SHARKS FOLLOW LAUNCH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19207, 22 December 1925, Page 13

SHARKS FOLLOW LAUNCH

SCHOOL OF FIVE HUNDRED. ADVENTURE OUTSIDE SYDNEY. CRAFT IN A HEAVY SEA. A school of 500 hungry sharks followed a small motor-launch for two miles outside Sydney Harbour last week. Their sinister black fins seemed to be everywhere, as far as the eye could reach. To add to the peril of the situation, there was a strong north-easter blowing, with a difficult "following" sea, and the crew of the 30-foot launch were hard put to it to avoid being swamped time and again. "The sharks seemed to knyw we were m danger," said one of the crew. "They gave us the impression that, they were 'dwelling' on us. We weren't sorry to reach port!" The launch was the Supreme, 30ft. in length and with a 9f±. beam. The school of sharks was met two miles south of Nor.ih Head, when the launch was standing fully nine miles out from shore to avoid dangerous shoals. The sharks, which were mostly grey nurse and pointers, swam all round the launch. They werti mostly 6ft. to Bft. long. The curious part of the experience was that there were no fish in sight; neither were there any porpoises, and the crew of the launch were at a loss to understand why they were being followed by such a sinister host—unless it was that the sharks knew they were in danger of being swamped, and were waiting to feast on their bodies. The officer in charge of the Fisheries Department, Mr. A. W. Wood, is surprised at the crew's adventure. He said it was a most unusual happening, but was not impossible. He himself had seen sharks cruising round in schools of a hundred and two hundred, or so, and therefore he could not see why such a large school should not follow a launch. "At the present time," said Mr. Wood, "it is the breeding season of sharks, and naturally they are very ferocious. From December to February sharks are the most dangerous. Big schools of salmon are off our coast, and these monsters attack them in great numbers, salmon being one of their staple foods." Mr. Wood said that unless a shark was extremely hungry he would not attack a human being in the surf. Nevertheless, it was not advisable to take any foolhardy risks.