Boys’ Column.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2014, 7 January 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Boys’ Column.

Down by the Sea* BT U. QUAD. You may have hunted grizzles, stalked buffaloes, traced wolves or trailed panthers, but you will never realise what excitement is until you lie in ambush for a man-eating shark. As the lion is the king of beasts, the shark is the king of fish. The whale may lie larger, but when it comes down to straight business the shark discounts him by fifty* We dropped down from Reach Heaven to the Inlet, a distance of nine mile*, one morning in a cat-boat to ambush a man-eater. At the Inlet is a factory where menhaden are received from the fishermen to be made into oil and fertilizer, and the man-enter comes in from the sea to pick up such stray C'-h ns may fall overboard during the process of unloading. The boat was anchored in about fourteen feet of water, with a hard samlv bottom, aud put out a shark hook at the tnd of a hundred feet of The book was about the same size as those you see in butcher stalls to hang “quarters” on, but was barbed like a regular fish-hook. I lie bait used was three sea trout, weighing about twelve ounces each. A float capable of sustaining a man in the water was made fast so that the hook remained about six feet below the surface, and when all wasieady the gray-haired and fcronzed-faicd old fisherman sat down and said: “Now, then, everybody beep quiet. When a shark is out at sea ho will scarcely move foraboat headed full at him. He fens at home, and is defiant, Rut when a shark comes prowling into a bay like this he is a cat in a strange garret. He is looking for traps and pitfalls, and is suspicions and alarmed. A knock of your foot against the boat can be heard a long ways under water, and will frighten our game away.” The three of ns sat in the styrn-shects o( the boat, which was anchored with anchor weighing twenty-four pounds, and the peak of the sail was lowered. There was a slight breeze rustling the wafers, and massosof kelp was driving by on the young flood tide, Bach ono of us scanned the water in a different direction, and half an hour had passed wuen the fisherman raised his arm and whispered: “ Hist 1 There’s our game I" A hundred feet away the dorsal fin of a shark was cutting the water and showing well above the surface. Its movements were erratic, showing that the man-eater was looking for his breakfast. He ran down to within fifty feet of our bait and then stopped dead still. He saw it, but something raised his suspicions. For three long minutes that black fln, sticking up in the morning sun like a foot, did not move one inch. Then it moved backwards, and the shark made a half circle to take a look at the boat. He came within six feet of the stern, and we had a plain view of him for a moment, but the movement of a foot on the bottom of the boat sent him away like a flash. Ho ran for deep water, but after taking fifteen or twenty minutes to reflect, he again showed up in the neighbourhood of the bailed hook. “ An old shark is like an old rat.” whispered the Captain. “I’ll wager you that fellow is 10 or 12 years old, and that he Ims ranged from Cape Ann to Cape Fear. He won’t bite just yet, but when he lakes hold we’ve got him for sure.” For about ten minutes longer that black fin moved here and there on a scent. Then all of a sudden it sank from our sight. There was a gleam of white in the wafer, and the buoy was pulled under with a jerk which made the spray fly. We had him ! The rope was hauled taut with a zip I and at the other end the man-eater sprang half his length out of the water and fell with a great splash. Then he made one complete circle, dragging the boat stern first with him. There was no question as to his size or ferocity, as wo soon discoverec when he pulled the yacht stern first a distance of forty feet, her anch >r all the time being in the sand. Finding this too hard work he went to the bottom to rest, and then we began to haul in on him. He came willingly enough for about twenty feet, and then he made a rush which threw the throe of us in a heap, and carried out all the rope we had gained. He was caught fast enough, hut lie wasn’t onr meat yet. We spit on our hands and took hold again, carefully securing whatever we gained, and though he fought hard he had to come to the stern of the boat. He had swallowed the hook, and we could see him seize the three feet of chain and worry at it like a dog shaking a rat. Talk about wickedness in the face of a wild beast, but you ought to have looked down upon that shark 1 His eyes had the gleam of an infuriatrd bull-dog, and his wicked mouth seemed to water for meat. Ilia grit was up, and as we attempted to lift his head np out of water to shoot him, he swerved and fastened his teeth in the rudder and hung there while the fisherman prodded him six or seven times with a lance. When he finally let go two of his teeth remained in the hard oak, and a handful of splinters floated out of his mouth. He ran oil thirty feet before we could check him, and then he came straight back, churning the water to foam, and passed under the boat. Had it been a skiff or a sink-boat he would have upset her. We felt him fasten his teeth to the centre and shake ns, and he gave the planks some blows which would have shattered anything of lighter weight. UTjirty-flve minutes after being hooked we got the man-eater’s head up where six bullets from a revolver would help to quiet him, and the keen edged lance was sunk into him until the water was red with his blood. We then got a board over at an incline and hauled him on deck, and the victory was won. From nose to tail he measured twelve feet four inches, but at least one third of him was head. His mouth wes capable of taking a beer keg without much effort, and was ornamented with six rows ot teeth, one behind the other. With the exception of two rows the teeth lay flat down until called into use. If a man, caught by the leg, jvas strong enough to pull the limb away, * hose teeth would rake every particle of fiesh off the bones. We disembowelled him, hoping to find some relics, but aside from a champagne bottle, empty of course, there were no discoveries. The hook had gone clean down bis gullet, and he had worried the chain until it looked as if some one had been at work on it with a cold-chisel and hammer.