History and background
Shark attacks are terrifying acts of nature. They do not happen often and are rarely fatal. From 2007 to 2016 there has been a total of 766 shark attacks worldwide. From 2011 to 2015 there were only 8 shark attacks that resulted in death.
July 1, 1916, a 25-year-old man named Charles Vansant bled to death in a hotel in New Jersey. His body was pulled from the ocean maimed and bloody. Not even a week later, Charles Bruder, a 27 year old man, was killed while swimming along the Jersey Shore. Onlookers at the scene pulled his legless remains out of the water. The next week, Lester Stilwell, a 10-year-old boy, was swimming with his friends in Matawan Creek when he was eaten alive. When the people found out about Stilwell, they were skeptical and believed that he had drowned. Soon after, Watson Fisher went into the creek to look for Stilwell’s body and was attacked as well. He eventually died of blood loss. Thirty minutes later, 14-year-old Joseph Dunn was attacked. He was pulled to safety, but he lost his leg. That same night, locals tossed sticks of dynamite into the creek to try to kill whatever was attacking their residents. Eventually, an eight-foot juvenile great white was pulled from the waters, and in it’s stomach they found human remains.
On July 28, 1945, the U.S. naval ship known as the USS Indianapolis was on it’s way to meet the USS Idaho in the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. Shortly after midnight, a Japanese torpedo hit the ship in the starboard bow. Another torpedo from the same submarine hit closer to midship, ripping it in two. The ship sank in about 12 minutes. There had been 1,196 men aboard but only 900 people made it out of the water alive. Survivors bobbed in the open water in small to large groups of nearly 300, starving and dehydrated. Sharks were drawn to the wreckage by the explosions, thrashing, and smell of blood. Historians believe by the way the sharks had attacked live victims near the surface that the attacks had been carried out by oceanic whitetips, a shark known to be extremely aggressive. At first the sharks only focused on the dead floating in the water but the survivors movements in the water only attracted more and more. Sailors tried to distance themselves from the wounded and bleeding, sacrificing the ones that had died in an attempt to avoid falling victim as well. The sharks attacked and fed for days without any sign of stopping. The survivors not only had the sharks to worry about but hunger and thirst as well, some beginning to suffer from hallucinations that drove them to drink from the salt water around them. Those who suffered from hallucinations became a great threat to others, some even dragging their fellow survivors under the water with them as they died. After four days of being in the water, a Navy plane flying over spotted them and radioed for help. A little after midnight the USS Doyle arrived on the scene and helped to pull the survivors on board. Of the original 1,196 men, only 317 survived with an estimated of 150 deaths due to shark attacks.
Shark attacks, although rare, are great disasters and when they do happen they strike up fear of these oceanic predators. Sharks, although capable, are not maneaters and do not intentionally attack people. Most shark attacks are provoked or accidental.
July 1, 1916, a 25-year-old man named Charles Vansant bled to death in a hotel in New Jersey. His body was pulled from the ocean maimed and bloody. Not even a week later, Charles Bruder, a 27 year old man, was killed while swimming along the Jersey Shore. Onlookers at the scene pulled his legless remains out of the water. The next week, Lester Stilwell, a 10-year-old boy, was swimming with his friends in Matawan Creek when he was eaten alive. When the people found out about Stilwell, they were skeptical and believed that he had drowned. Soon after, Watson Fisher went into the creek to look for Stilwell’s body and was attacked as well. He eventually died of blood loss. Thirty minutes later, 14-year-old Joseph Dunn was attacked. He was pulled to safety, but he lost his leg. That same night, locals tossed sticks of dynamite into the creek to try to kill whatever was attacking their residents. Eventually, an eight-foot juvenile great white was pulled from the waters, and in it’s stomach they found human remains.
On July 28, 1945, the U.S. naval ship known as the USS Indianapolis was on it’s way to meet the USS Idaho in the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. Shortly after midnight, a Japanese torpedo hit the ship in the starboard bow. Another torpedo from the same submarine hit closer to midship, ripping it in two. The ship sank in about 12 minutes. There had been 1,196 men aboard but only 900 people made it out of the water alive. Survivors bobbed in the open water in small to large groups of nearly 300, starving and dehydrated. Sharks were drawn to the wreckage by the explosions, thrashing, and smell of blood. Historians believe by the way the sharks had attacked live victims near the surface that the attacks had been carried out by oceanic whitetips, a shark known to be extremely aggressive. At first the sharks only focused on the dead floating in the water but the survivors movements in the water only attracted more and more. Sailors tried to distance themselves from the wounded and bleeding, sacrificing the ones that had died in an attempt to avoid falling victim as well. The sharks attacked and fed for days without any sign of stopping. The survivors not only had the sharks to worry about but hunger and thirst as well, some beginning to suffer from hallucinations that drove them to drink from the salt water around them. Those who suffered from hallucinations became a great threat to others, some even dragging their fellow survivors under the water with them as they died. After four days of being in the water, a Navy plane flying over spotted them and radioed for help. A little after midnight the USS Doyle arrived on the scene and helped to pull the survivors on board. Of the original 1,196 men, only 317 survived with an estimated of 150 deaths due to shark attacks.
Shark attacks, although rare, are great disasters and when they do happen they strike up fear of these oceanic predators. Sharks, although capable, are not maneaters and do not intentionally attack people. Most shark attacks are provoked or accidental.
people/dates
- 1. 1916- First ever recorded shark attacks, in New Jersey 4 deaths in 2 weeks
- 2. 1945- USS Indianapolis was attacked, 579 men dead, 316 survivors
- 3. December 8, 1963 - Rodney Fox - spearfisherman who was attacked by a great white while diving and had to get 654 stitches on his chest and his arm
- 4. October 31, 2003 - Bethany Hamilton- a surfer who lost her left arm to a 14-foot tiger shark when she was 13-years-old and continued to become one of the greatest surfers of all time
- 5. September 21, 2015 - John Braxton - spearfisherman who was attacked by a 13-foot tiger shark and videotaped himself on a stretcher on the way to the hospital
further reading
- Soul Surfer - Bethany Hamilton - Autobiography, she talks about the aftermath of the attack and how she recovered over several years.
- Shark girl - Kelly Bingham - A teenager is attacked by a shark and struggles to bounce back.
- I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 - Lauren Tarshis - A fiction story based on the shark attacks scares that sent the whole country into shock.
youtube videos
https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8raLJHzWqVA
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https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dh1XYa93Rz_Q
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who to follow
- Bethany Hamilton - shark attack survivor, mostly posts about surfing and the beach - https://www.instagram.com/bethanyhamilton/
- Shark Week - dedicated to sharks and shark information - https://www.instagram.com/sharkweek/
- Discover Sharks - mostly posts videos of sharks - https://www.instagram.com/discoversharks/
- Rodney Fox Great White Shark Expeditions - information about diving with sharks - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rodney-Fox-Great-White-Shark-Expeditions/47620321426
sources
- Mcall, Matt. news.nationalgeographic.com, National Georgraphic, 30 June 2016, news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150702-shark-attack-jersey-shore-1916-great-white/. Accessed 22 May 2017.
- Blake, Heidi. "World's 10 worst shark attacks." The Telegraph, 14 Jan. 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/6984067/Worlds-10-worst-shark-attacks.html. Accessed 22 May 2017.
- Geiling, Natasha. "The Worst Shark Attack in History." Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian, 8 Aug. 2013, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-worst-shark-attack-in-history-25715092/. Accessed 22 May 2017.