Fight with Sharks

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 364, 26 May 1928, Page 22

Fight with Sharks

Hungry Monsters Attack Crew of Boat SEA RED WITH BLOOD Indies- The native crew fought the ■ •uytKTprs with Vr : Tfs till the sea ~a= red with blood. Acccr-iirg to the story told by AkleSeaman. Frank Monahan, the vessel, after running into a became She could not —headway in the seas, is*nice, tossed her in all directions, and she drifted near the Bahamas, whiek abottc in reefs and cays (small islands). With a thunderous crash and shivering from stem to stem the steamer hit a reef. Steel tore asunder like matchwood, and soon the forepart cf the ship was reduced to twisted scrap metah Meanwhile. the seas swept the decks, the half-drowned, crew to take shelter behind deckhouses, where they were forced to remain til. the hurricane passed and the sea became sufficient-y smooth to set a lee boat launched on oil-strewn waters THE ADVANCE GUARD A pair of hungry sharks came from the depths seeking prey. For a time little notice was taken of then by the shipwrecked mariners who made for one of the islands in a heavy boat containing 15 persons. Less r'-fi-n a. mile from the wreck the two sharks were joined by a shoaL but no attack was made on the boat till she was pulled within half a mile of the nearest island. Then the largest of the man-eaters made a determined mass attack on the frail craft, trying to upset itthat this rase had no effect, the furious monsters leapt and snapped at the oars, some of which they succeeded in breaking. Knives in hand, the native crew slashed and stabbed till the sea was red with blood. It was with the greatest difficulty that the boat was rowed with the stumps of broken oars to the beach. West Indian natives state that owing to bad weather the sharks were hungry, as neither flying fish nor dolphins had been seen for several days. It was an unusual experience for such a determined attack to be made on the crew of a lifeboat, although men are frequently attacked by sharks when fishing in frail canoes.