MAN'S ANGUISH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 8 (Supplement)

MAN'S ANGUISH

SHARK NEAR WIFE AND SON A FEW TENSE MINUTES A man in a high flat building at Manly, Sydney, suffered mental anguish recently when he saw a huge shark approach his wife and son, who, unaware of their danger, were swimming in the surf below him. People on the beach thought he was joking when he shouted "Shark," and ho was forced to watch the shark cruising near his wife and son. The man had gone to the top of Borambil Flats, a huge block that towers over the South Steyne dressing sheds and bathing area, to read the morning newspaper while his family were bathing. After a while he looked over the edge of the parapet to see if he could see his wife and son. He had just recognised them, when he was horrified to see a huge shark swimming down the beach. It approached the bathers quickly. The.husband leant over the parapet and shouted warnings at the top of his voice. His shouts did not carry to the beach. Other residents in the flat heard him. They leant from their windows and added their voices to his. They were joined by workmen at the dressing sheds. Ultimately their shouts were heard rin the beach, but people there thought that the warning was a joke. The man on the flats saw the shark approach within 30 yards of his wife and son, and then swim slowly past them. Shortly afterwards a smaller shark appeared. The two were seen at intervals in the surf until 9 o'clock, when they disappeared. Mr. T. C. Roughley, economic zoologist at the Technological Museum, said that it would be impossible to say if the sharks were dangerous without careful examination, but, as they were largo sharks, they probably belonged to the man-eating types—whaler, grey nurse, or tiger sharks—which were most common along the coast.