DIVE INTO JAWS

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1935, Page 9

DIVE INTO JAWS

SWIMMER SEIZED BY SHARK. FIRST TRAGEDY OF SEASON. Sydney, Dec, 28. An Australian summer is invariably marked by a series of shark tragedies, and the first of the 1934-35 summer was particularly distressing, says the Wellington Post’s correspondent. The victim was a 14-year-old boy, Roy Inman, who was seized when he dived from the verandah of his parents’ week-end waterside shack at Horsfield Bay, near Woy Woy, about 50 miles from Sydney. The boy dived almost into the shark’s jaws. His agonised mother and elder sister, on the verandah of the cottage, saw the shark with the boy gripped in its teeth, rear its head out of the water, and disappear with its prey. The boy’s 12-year-old sister, Joyce, was swimming a few feet away. Her leg was tom by the shark’s fin as the man-eater rushed to the attack. It is believed- the shark had marked her out for its prey, when the boy dived into its. jaws. Accompanied by their three children, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Inmah arrived at their , week-end cottage last Friday, with the intention of spending the holidays there. The cottage is built on the edge of the water in the shadow of the wooded hills that rise practically sheer from the edge of the b,ay. A jetty, about 10 feet long, leading from the house, was used by the children for fishing. Throughout Sunday, the boy and his two sisters, accompanied by others from nearby houses, had been swimming in the water and diving either from the front of the house or the jetty into the water, which is about 10ft deep. Shortly after lunch, the Inman children decided to return to the water. Joyce and Roy arrived at the end of the jetty a few minutes before their elder sister, who changed into her swimming costume intending to follow them immediately. While they were awaiting her arrival they decided to hold a diving competition, Joyce dived from the jetty into the water. Roy applauded her effort, but said he could make less splash, and plunged into the bay.

GIRL SEES SHARK. Just as he struck the water, Joyce screamed' with terror. A huge black fin cut through the water towards her. She saw the shark when it was a few feet away. The shark apparently misjudged the location of its intended victim, for, as she kicked out, she felt it graze her leg and felt a sharp stinging pain in her calf. Then she saw her brother disappear in a swirl of foam, and she swam for the jetty, a few feet away. While the two children were diving, Kathleen, the elder sister, arrived at the corner of the house and stood watching them plunge into the water about 20 feet away from her. Then she saw the shark racing towards the children. An instant later the boy’s scream rang out, and the head of her brother was dragged down. With a cry of alarm, she ran to where a row-boat was moored. She jumped into it and pushed off with an oar. She had almost reached her brother when the shark returned, and, despite the struggles of the boy, dragged him down. Kathleen frantically searched the locality, pushing- the oar down into the water in the hope that it would touch the shark and make it release its victim. “I was standing at the doorway watching the two children diving from the jetty when the black fin appeared,’ said Miss Kathleen Inman. “Then I heard Joyce scream out ’Shark!’ and the fin dashed past her. Roy was seized by the monster, and it dragged him down. Then I jumped into the rowing boat and pushed over to help him. Before I reached him the shark had grabbed him again and pulled him below the water. It was terrible. The boat was right over the shark, and it was just covered with blood. It disappeared. I did not see it again. Other boats came over, but we could not find him.”