SKETCHER

Southern Cross, Volume 17, Issue 26, 9 October 1909, Page 3

SKETCHER

"TORPEDOED" BY A SHARK. '(By "Phill.") At the time that the following incident occurred I was engaged in schnapper fishing at Terrigal Haven on the coast of New South Wales, about 50 miles north of Sydney. There were three of us, mates, in a ( 24 foot open boat, especially built for the work ; and a very jolly life it is in fine weather when the fish are plentiful about the fishing grounds, but of late years these have been gone, over so much and fished so constantly that they have become very much depleted of their supply of pink beauties. 1 well remember the morning of that eventful day of which I write. It broke clear and bright, and was all the more appreciated, as we had just come through a spell of bad weather. In fact, there was some conflict of opinion among the fishermen quartered at Terrigal as to the advisability of going out so soon after a blow, as it is well-known that fish usually find so much food stirred up by the rough sea, that they don't bite at a\ line nearly so well as when the weather has been calm for a week or soOf course there are exceptions to. j this rule, as the following will show. When we started there was no wind at all, and my mates were grumbling! at having to row the heavy boat out on to the grounds (the one we wanted to reach being about three miles out . I believe I said something about wishing we had a gas engine in our craft, and determining that we should have it some day. Well, we got on to a spot that had often panned out well, and decided to try our luck there, so after dumping the kellick (a bag of sand) over, we were soon busy with our lines. We got a few dozen pretty quickly, and were feeling well satisfied when I suddenly felt a peculiar tug on my line, that I knew only too well —a sort of dead pull, then it eases up, and you pull in, feeling nothing on your line, not even the weight of your sinker ; suddenly it whistles through your fingers for a few fathoms, and then you can usually pull it in, feeling something pretty heavy on all the time, which, when you get it to the surface, proves to be a shark ; then while you hang on to the line one of your mates gets to work with the shark-lance, and finishes him off, though there is sometimes a stiff tussle over it. Well, I called out, "Pull up, boys, I've a shark on !"' (and I will not append the remark that greeted this news). They hauled in their lines to prevent getting tangled up with mine, as a shark swims round in a circle as he is being pulled up. and made ready to help me, when T suddenly felt the strain relax, and though I could still feel that I .had something on, I knew the shark was gone. I soon had the line up, and uttered an exclamation of astonishment, which my mates echoed ; for what I pulled up was the head and shoulders of a large schnapper, the rest bitten off as if chopped with a cleaver. I turned round and said, "Boys, tHe shark that took my fish is no chicken, and he'll have more of them," which proved true. as another schnapper was soon pulled in bitten clean off by the gills. This went on for about an hour. Sometimes we Qfot the fish : sometimes Jack Shark g-ot him. Then the rather foolish idea ffot hold of us to race him for them. We managed to get several in this way. pulling up as hard as we could as soon as we | felt them on our lines, and were having a laugh all round at Jack Shark's I expense, when, as I whipped a particularly lively "squire" (a small schnapper) over the side there was a crash and shock that threw all of us flat in the bottom of the boat, and nearly threw one man out altogether. This was followed instantly by the horribly gurgling sound of water rushing into our craft, where the shark's nose had stove a couple of planks completely in 'for about two feet under the counter. He had been chasing the fish I was pulling up, like a torpedo, and with very similar effect, minus the explosion, as with his velocity and evident size he had crashed clean through the half-inch planks as if they had been cardboard. We scrambled to our feet, and immediately set to work to heave out the iron ballast —no easy matter, as the floor-boards had to be lifted out of the way first, and they fitted pretty tightly'; but men in a; funk don't care much about paint i or anything else, and the way that ballast went out would have done creit to an old time frigate throw- | ing away her guns in a storm. One

man went forward and cut the kelI lick line—never stopped to haul it in, as we were only too anxious to \ get away from that locality while I the boat floated, as we expected to j see the shark sheering round us at any moment. I got to work with the bait-bucket, and baled as hard as I could, while one of my mates tore up some old clothes that we had with us, and stuffed them into the shattered planks, but though this checked the inrush of water a bit, it still gained on my baling. The other man had meanwhile got some sail up. I took the helm, and we ran for Terrigal, with the strong N.E. breeze, luckily fair behind us. Both my mates now kept on baling as hard as they could,' and we threw away everything that we ceuld, so as to lighten the boat, but the water gained on us so rapidly that we were soon nearly up to the thwarts, and commenced to roll to such an extent that I feared a capsize, and advised taking in some sail to steady the boat. This was done, and considerably slackened our speed, already not very good owing to our waterlogged condition. My mates found that they could make no headway with the baling, so I advised them to sit down in the boat so that only their heads and shoulders were above water. This lightened the weight. Fortunately the weather was quite warm as it was the month of February. The water did not rise above the thwarts, as the buoyancy of the boat without her ballast was sufficient to float us, but our relief may be iimagined when we rounded the point of the reef and found ourselves in the snug little bay. We ran the boat ashore, and, as there were plenty of willing hands there, we soon had her clear of high water mark. We were of course the heroes of the hour — though I didn't feel like one— and did' not decline the generous glasses apiece of rum that Mr Oliver Davis a resident of the place, offered us, with some dry clothes. This gentleman,, who was engaged in ship-build-ing at the time, was a splendid boat builder, and a'fterwards repaired my boat, making an excellent job of it. I am not reckoned a coward by those who know me, but I was too shaken to care to venture out fishing for a week after our adventure, and if it should come again to pulling fish away from a pointer shark, when he is after them —well, I must confess I am not game for it.