Shark Attacks
Remarkable Attacks
Any shark attack in itself is dramatic and regrettable,
but certain additional circumstances, conditions or parameters can make it
even more tragic, or on the contrary comfort those optimists who think
that every serious accident could have been even worse.
On October 27, 1937, at Coolangatta in New South Wales,
Australia, it was half-past five in the afternoon and several men were
bathing 200 meters off the beach. Among them were Norman Girvan,
Jack Brinkley and Gordon Doniger, who were swimming in an area immediately
above an underwater channel hollowed out in the sand by currents.
The three friends were fooling around and joking about sharks and then
decided to get back to the shore. It was at this moment that Girvan
shouted to Doniger, "Quick Don, a shark's caught me."
Doniger thought that he was still joking, but when Girvan lifted his arm
there was blood everywhere. "It wouldn't let me go. It had my
leg," he said. Doniger swam over to Girvan, just as he reached
him, Girvan was torn from his arms and the enormous shark surfaced right
next to him. Girvan moaned, "I'm gone, Goodbye." and
almost immediately the killer dragged him underwater.
Doniger called Brinkley to come and help him, but, just as Brinkley was
starting to swim towards them, a shark attacked him. Joseph Doniger,
who had seen the first spectacle from the shore, launched himself into the
water towards his brother. As he was swimming, he saw Brinkley being
attacked by a second shark, slightly smaller than the first, and succeeded
in catching hold of him beneath the chin and started to bring him back to
the shore, but the shark charged again, and Joseph felt terrific jolts
shaking his friends body. He now had a perfect view of the shark,
which according to him was at least 2.5 meters long.
Norman Girvan had disappeared, but pieces of his body
were later thrown up on shore in the days following the attack.
Brinkley was taken to the hospital in Coolangatta with his left arm torn
off and the whole of his left flank gashed. He was given blood
transfusion and then operated on, but he died that evening. The next
day, a female Tiger Shark measuring 3.6 meters and weighing 385 kilos was
captured not far from the spot. When its stomach was opened up,
undigested human arms and legs were found in it, and it was possible to
identify Girvan's right hand from a scar. Dr. Birch, who had
examined Brinkley's injuries, stated that they appeared to have been made
with a razor, without the usual characteristic tearing. The
conclusion was then drawn that the principal target had been Girvan and
that there had probably only been one shark involved in this
tragedy. It was only when returning to attack Girvan that the Tiger
would have brushed against Brinkley with its sharp edged fins, thus
explaining the linear form of his wounds. It is in fact quite
exceptional for two sharks to attack at the same time, apart from during
feeding frenzies, which call for very particular circumstances, and apart
from cases where there are several sources of blood in the water (after
shipwrecks).
It is very probable, then, that Joseph Doniger was
mistaken in his judgment regarding the two sharks. The leading edges
of sharks' fins are sharp and cutting, accounting for their ability to
cause fatal injuries to a man stock-still in the water when the shark
charges at great speed towards its prey.
Another comparable attack took place, this time in fresh
water, 20 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Maria river
(Australia). This was in November 1947. Three brothers were
diving in the murky waters of the river just in front of their house, when
Rupert, aged 13, suddenly started to yell. The water boiled up
furiously around him and he swam rapidly for the bank, leaving a reddish
wake behind him. Almost immediately afterwards his brother Edwin, 12
years old, screamed and disappeared beneath the surface. As soon as
he reappeared, his older brother Stanley grabbed him and tried to drag him
towards the bank, but in vain. Suddenly Edwin appeared to have freed
himself, but in fact the shark had just released him by cutting of his leg
at knee level. Edwin died on the beach in his brother's arms.
Meanwhile Rupert had managed to reach terra firma, with a deep gash
from the thigh to below the kneecap, but he recovered from his
injury. It is certain that Edwin was the object of the attack, and
that his brother was wounded during the shark's charge by one of its fins.
On December 24, 1934, in the waters off Brisbane, 2
kilometers from the sea, three brothers and sisters were preparing to dive
from the pontoon between their house and the landing stage. Joyce
dived first and her brother, Roy, applauded her
while decreeing that he could do better. But just as he dived Joyce
began to scream as she saw a fin coming straight at her. She beat the
water with her legs and then felt a pain in the region of her knee, like a
cut. Then her brother disappeared in a swirl of foam, and she
herself just had time to reach the pontoon ladder a meter away from
her. Their mother, who was watching the scene from a distance, began
to run towards them, reached Roy, who had just reappeared screaming and
splashing about with the energy that comes of desperation. She just
had time to touch him before he was again dragged beneath the
surface. And although they searched for hours, he was never to be
found again. In this last case, again the target was a single child,
and the survivor was only unintentionally wounded by the shark.
On December 29, 1961, Margaret Hobbs, aged 18, and
Martin Streffens, aged 24, stood motionless in the water, 5 meters from
the shore in a depth of 1 meter, not far from the town of Mackay,
Australia. They had been flirting about in this way for about twenty
minutes when the young girl was abruptly torn from her friend's arms, in a
shower of water that prevented him from seeing whatever it was.
Martin succeeded in grasping Margaret's Body, but the killer was
stronger. When the two poor wretches were rescued, it was already
too late for Margaret, whose right arm was cut at the shoulder level, the
left forearm above the wrist, and the right thigh
ravaged down to the femur. Martin had to have his right hand
amputated, as it had been lacerated by the shark as it kept after its
victim. Here again, the "accessory" victim was injured
only because he found himself in the path to the chosen prey.
Potential rescuers should be aware that the risk of going to help a victim
who is already wounded is very limited, for in the great majority of cases
the shark, if it attacks again, will harass the same victim. The
number of rescuers who become victims of their own courage is
infinitesimal, which is easily explained when we remember the multiple and
extremely sophisticated neurosensorial means which the shark has at its
disposal for finding its prey again at short range, even in the dark.
Iona Asaļ (pictured below) was an Aboriginal island
pearl-fisher to whom his companions attributed the power of communicating
with the gods. the unique adventure that he experienced in 1937 did
not diminish him in the eyes of his companions, indeed the opposite.
He himself later wrote: "During 1937, one Friday just before 11
o'clock, I dived for the third time and walked along the bottom towards a
small mound. The shark was on the other side; initially I
couldn't see it and it couldn't see me. I saw a stone like a pearl
oyster on the north side and, when I turned around, I saw a shark two
meters from me. It opened its mouth. I had no chance at all of
escaping from it. It came and bit me on the head. As my skull
was too hard, it then swallowed my head and placed its teeth around my
neck. And then it bit me. When I felt its teeth sink into my
flesh, I put my hands around its head and crushed its eyes until it let me
go, and then made for the boat as best I could. The skipper hauled
me into the boat and I passed out."
Three weeks and 200 stitches later, Iona developed a
small abscess in the neck region, from which emerged a Tiger Shark tooth
that must have been at least 3 centimeters long. Nineteen years
previously, Iona had been attacked off Cairns, subsequently confirming the
biblical congruity of his name: Iona is the local name for Jonah or Jonas.
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