Shark History
The first representation of an attack by
what must have been a shark was discovered on a vase unearthed at Ischia,
Italy, an island just west of modem day Naples. The vase shows a man seized
by a fish reminiscent perhaps of a shark, and has been dated c. 725 BC.
The first account of an attack by a marine
monster dates back to Greek history, with Herodotus in 492 BC. He was not
talking specifically of the shark, even though the latter was probably
involved, for the word did not yet exist and no really lifelike graphic
representation was to appear before the I5th century. Again in Greek
history, the poet Leonidas of Tarentum evokes the tragic end of the
sponge-fisher Tharsys, when he was being hoisted aboard his boat by his two
companions and was attacked by a sea monster which tore away the lower
sections of his body. Tharsys' companions brought ashore his remains and
thus, the poet elegantly noted, Tharsys was buried both on land and at sea.
The first reference in English dates back
to 1580 when an officer related an attack he had witnessed between Portugal
and India.
One of the first representations of a shark attack, by
the Swede Olaus Magnus around 1550.
"A man fell overboard during a storm, and
it was impossible for us to reach him or go to his assistance in any way. So
we threw him a block of wood attached to a rope, specially provided for this
purpose. Our crew began to bring in the man, who had managed to catch the
block, but, when he was no more than half the range of a musket away, there
appeared from beneath the surface a big monster known as Tiburon; it rushed
at the man and cut him to pieces right before our eyes. It was certainly a
terrible death."
In 1776, Pennant described the Great White
Shark: "They reach very great dimensions. There is a report of a whole human
corpse being found in the stomach of one of these monsters, which is by no
means beyond belief considering their huge fondness for human flesh. They
are the nightmare of seamen in all the hot climates, where they constantly
follow ships waiting for anything that might fall overboard. A man who has
this misfortune inexorably perishes. They have been seen to rush at him like
a gudgeon at a worm... Very often, swimmers are killed by them. Sometimes,
they lose an arm or a leg, and at other times are cut in two by this
insatiable animal.'
Ships' logs often recount similar
tragedies, but a few rare cases exist in which the seamen get the better of
the situation. The captain of the Ayrshire fell overboard in the course of a
crossing in 1850. His courageous Labrador plunged into the water to rescue
him. A shark immediately headed towards them, but, according to the logbook,
both were saved. The captain was unharmed, but the dog's tail had been cut
clean through.
Basic scientific knowledge of the shark is
extremely recent, and it can therefore be assumed that up to the 20th
century, accounts of attacks by sharks were largely based on popular
mystique, superstition and fanciful speculation.
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