AMAZING FISH STORY

Southland Times, Issue 25360, 12 August 1935, Page 12

AMAZING FISH STORY

SHARK JUMPS INTO BOAT.

TRAWLER CAPTAIN WOUNDED.

One of the most amazing fishing stories ever told was related at Wildwood, New Jersey, when the trawler Nautilus returned to harbour with her skipper, Captain Manuel Chalor, nursing an arm torn by a shark. He stated that the shark had entered a boat, seized him, and finally leaped back into the sea after a struggle lasting more than 10 minutes.

Incredible though all this seems, states a special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, London, the facts are corroborated by three members of Chalor’s crew, John Mendez Burton and the brothers Hugh and Thure Thompson. They said that Chalor was fishing from one of the trawler’s boats. He was hauling aboard a large bluefish—the commonest kind of fish served in New York restaurants—when he noticed a great turmoil in the water alongside. Without further warning ■ a huge grey body flashed past him and crashed into the bottom of his craft. It was a 15ft. shark, and it thrashed about with a fury that made Chalor and his companion fear that the boat would be smashed.

“I tried to keep out of the way,” said Chalor, “but the fish was too big, and the boat too small. Its jaws were snapping, and as I went to dodge it I slipped. The shark got one of my arms in its mouth and I felt my skin rip. “My boat was only about 20ft. from the trawler, and the members of the crew we had left aboard started to throw pieces of timber and old iron at the shark. Finally it slackened its grip, and I pulled my arm clear.” Chalor hesitated to jump into the sea, fearing that the shark might follow him, and for more than 10 minutes, he declares, the crew continued to shout and hurl missiles. Finally one man struck its head with an old harpoon, and with a twist that nearly capsized the boat the shark flopped back into the water.

Bleeding profusely, Chalor was transferred to the trawler, and was unconscious during the greater part of the journey back to Wildwood, where he was taken to hospital and treated by Dr. Margaret Mace,