FOUND IN THE TRAWLS.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 September 1918, Page 4

FOUND IN THE TRAWLS.

SYDNEY, August 21

The trawlers which go out from Sydney and range tlie ocean up and down the coast pick tip all soils of interesting things. A huge shark, over 12 feet long, was taken off Botany Bay. In its stomach was the cover of a presentation copy of “Barnaby Rntlge” and a man’s straw hat. All the reading matter of “Barnaby” had disappeared, but the strawboards had resisted the gastric juices It is presumed that the book belonged to a lady, because the cover had been mended with a small pin, which is still there. The man’s hat bore tho name of a Sydney maker. Enquiries were made, and owner of the hit of shapeless straw actually found. He had lost the hat while fishing in Botany Bay the Sunday before the shark was caught. Anchors are sometinies found. The trawl brought one up the other day with 15 fathoms of chain attached, and it was sold for £9. A trawler lost her own anchor one day, but some time later, in the same place, she brought it up in her trawls. Off Botany, on e day, a trawl got fast to some obstruction, and when it came up, badly torn, hits of ironwork clinging to the nets suggested the presence of an old wreck. A little later, in this vicinity, a white man’s skull was brought up. Curiously enough it bore evidence of an old severe wound, whim liad completely healed before the man found his last resting-place in tho sea. •Another day.a child’s tricycle much rusted was found in the trawls off Woollongong. So many sharks are caught- in the trawls that an attempt is to he made to send cured sharks’ flesh to the Islands, where there is a very ready market for it . There is also an infinite variety of beautiful shells found as well as many curious denizens of deep water. A huge crab was captured tho other day. .The nippers are about 10 inches long, and in appearance much like the horns of a cow. They arc big enough to clutch a man’s leg at the thigh and appear to have been powerful enough to crush the bone. In life the crab was a resident in 'loo feet of water off Wollingong. The claw to the first- joint below the nippers, is nearly two feet long, and at the base of the nippers measures about six inches by four deep. The body was approximately 18 inches across and the earease weighed about Soil).