SHARK MENACE

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1929, Page 6

SHARK MENACE

PROTECTION FOR BATHERS. TRAGEDY AT LA PEROUSE SYDNEY, December 12. It is no wonder that the shark-proof enclosure that has been provided at the Congee surf beach is popular with bathers in Sdyncy, lor they have been given tragic reminders of the fact that sharks still hover around the coastline close to the city. Scarcely a day passes without a shark being caught by the fishemen who operate close to the surf-bathing areas, so that is why a queue waited at the entrance to tho Coogee enclosure and willingly paid the penny for the right to bathe inside the net. So far the experiment of excluding sharks by the erection of a steel net lias been a huge success, and at the present rate of revenue the net will he paid for long before the surf season ends. Other beaches are envying the popularity of Coogee, and Manly is now talking of erecting an ocean pier similar to that at Coogee, and the provision of a net. When Thomas Duggan was washed

off the rock at La Pcrouse last Saturday with his brother and his companion, lie was taken by a shark. At least that is the opinion of those men who witnessed the tragedy. After throwing up his hands and sinking he was not seen again, and a few minutes later a huge shark was seen cruising in the vicinity. The three men had climbed 70 feet down the cliff on to a long narrow ledge, and had been fishing only 15 minutes when a huge breaker washed them off, into the sea. With a desperate plunge one of the men managed to seize a rock and so drag himself back t,o safety. Duggan and bis brother were washed widely apart. Another wave carried Henry Duggan back to tbc rocks, and his companions grasped him and hauled him back on to tho ledge. The men then climbed to the top of the cliffs and procured a fishing line. This was thrown to the man in the water, hut seemed, to get entangled in the rocks and it soon snapped. A second line was then procured, and Duggan was able to grasp this. He was hauled to within seven feet of the ledge, when he threw up both hands and disappeared. The line then snaplied. Three time before Duggan sank his brother was dragged into the water, and oil each occasion lie was washed hack again. His legs were frightfully cut on the jagged rocks. The body of Thomas Duggan is still missing and this has given force to the theory that he was taken by a huge maneater.

The police are still investigating a report tlntt a mail’s leg was seen in Botany Bay, not very far from where Saturday's tragedy was enacted. There was a tan shoe on the foot; and as Duggan was supposed to he harefotted it is feared that another shark tragedy has taken place.