THRILLING SHARK HUNT

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12354, 26 January 1926, Page 7

THRILLING SHARK HUNT

SURFERS IN DINGHY SLIP NOOSE OVER US TAIL SPECTATORS MADLY EXCITED WARRIOR WITH AN AXE DELIVERS A MIGHTY BLOW By Telegraph.—Special to “Times.” AUCKLAND, January 25. An exciting shark hunt, that presented'some amusing features, was witnessed by sofne hundreds of bathers and picnickers at Milford beach yesterday afternoon. After a battle, lasting over half an hour, the unwelcome visitor was roped, after being stunned by a blow from an oar, and was towed to the beach where it was dispatched with an axe. The shark, which measured Bft 6in, in length, is believed by those who saw it to be a blue pointer. There was a great crowd of bathers in the water, and many more people were on the beach, when, at about 3.30 o’clock in the afternoon, the presence of a shark was reported. The bathers scampered for the shore, and all eyes were turned toward the sea, where, a fin was to be seen moving along in the shallow water parallel with the shore. It was then abreast of Milford road,\ and heading toward Takapuna. A young man, named Bowers, a member of the Milford Surf Club, secured a dinghy, and pulling out beyond the shark tried to head it inshoie. The shark held to its course, and the young man, standing up in the dinghy, attacked it with an oar. He delivered one tremendous blow, and lost his balance, both oars going overboard. By this time the spectators ashore were worked up to a high pitch of excitement, and they feared the dinghy would capsize, leaving the occupant to the mercy of the shark. However, the fish was apparently stunned by the blow from the oar, and did not come to the surface again for three or four minutes. Buckworth, a member of the crew of the keel yacht, Little Jim, pulled to the scene jff the encounter in a dinghy, and took Bowers’s boat in tow.

Finding that the shark would not be headed off, Buckworth seized it by the tail, and pulled it partly into the dinghy. This was not done without a struggle, but Buckworth managed to slip a noose over the tail. The shark was then towed ashore, tail first, despite its desperate struggles. The crowd ashore had watched the capture with the keenest interest, many giving directions whith the participants could not hear, while others expressed their feelings by yells and shrieks at the tense moments. A weighty man, in a flat bottomed boat, rowed by a boy, set out to assist the men in the dinghies, but could not get near enough to use the large axe he was armed with. He had his chance when the shark was stranded on the beach, but his excitement was so great that when he did swing the axe with a mighty effort he missed the large target presented, and buried thp head of the axe in the sand, to the huge delight of the spectators.