ENCOUNTERS WITH SHARKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22823, 6 March 1936, Page 8

ENCOUNTERS WITH SHARKS

ATTACK ON SCULLER'S SHELL (FKOM OUIt OWN C'OIiKK.SI'ONUENTJ SYDNEY, February 27. Two exciting encounters with sharks have occurred in the last few days—one at Brisbane and the other near Yamba, on the north coast of New South Wales. The.sculling outrigger occupied by the Queensland sculling champion, C. Slaughter, was savagely attacked by a 10ft shark while Slaughter was training in the Brisbane River, in the centre of the city. With one snap of its powerful jaws the shark ripped through the frail woodwork near the stern, and witli the shell rapidly rilling, Slaughter had to make a hurried dash for the bank. The shark pursued him' for some of the way and then disappeared. Slaughter on a training spin was sprinting back to the boat shed after sculling two miles when he noticed a sudden swirl near the stern. A moment later the shell rocked violently, and almost capsized as it commenced to ship water rapidly. Slaughter made a sharp turn and dashed for the bank. It was then he saw the shark, which hung close to the stern for about 20 yards before disappearing. The rower was still several yards from' the bank when the boat filled and sank. He was then in only' about five feet of water, and got the shell to the bank. The shell bore eloquent testimony to the ferocity of the attack. There were moro than a dozen teeth marks on cither side, some penetrating the wood, while the stern section was splintered and broken for about four feet. A five-foot shark that had been dragged from a rock pool in which it had been stranded near Yamba badly lacerated the hand of Miss Eva Cameron when it snapped at her as she was examining its teeth. Miss Cameron was walking along the rocks with her brother, Alec Cameron, when they saw the shark lying in about two feet of water. Cameron seized it by the tail and hurled- it on the rocks, where it lay as if dead. As Miss Cameron touched its mouth its teeth snapped on the fingers of one hand, and then on those of the other as she attempted to release herself. Miss Cameron suffered two minutes of excruciating agony until her brother and another man prised open the jaws of the shark with a piece of timber. Miss Cameron's hands by that time were bleeding profusely. The tip •f one finger was almost bitten off.