The White Shark. The Shark known to sailors as the White Shark is a fierce and sanguinary creature. It frequents the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, where it follows ships for days for the sake of the refuse, which is thrown overboard. This creature has been known to swallow a man entire, and commonly to devour one in two or three portions. Sailors get no mercy from the shark, and consequently show him none. There is a story told of a negro cook who seeing a shark follow in the wake of a ship made a brick hot in the stove, and then threw it to the monster who probably never had a warmer or more indigestible meal. This shark suffered great agony if its contortions may be taken as evidence, and, after exhausting itself with its fury, allowed itself to drift away with the tide. Expert swimmers, armed with long sharp knives have sometimes engaged the shark single-handed, diving underneath it, and stabbing it before it discovered their whereabouts. The Negroes of the West Indies are credited with this hardihood, and are said to be frequently successful.
Sharks in the South Seas. "The amphibious South Sea Islanders," says Mr. Wood, "stand in great dread of the Shark, and with good reason, for not a year elapses without several victims falling to the rapacity of this terrific animal. Nearly thirty of the natives of the Society Islands were destroyed at one time by the sharks. A storm had so injured the canoe in which they were passing from one island to another, that they were forced to take refuge on a raft hastily formed of the fragments of their canoe. Their weight sunk the raft a foot or two below the surface of the water, and, dreadful to say, the sharks surrounded them and dragged them off the raft one by one, until the lightened raft rose above the water and preserved the few survivors." Mrs. Bowdich who was an eye-witness of the tragic circumstances she describes, says:—"Sharks abounded at Cape Boast, and one day, as I stood at a window commanding a view of the sea, I saw some of the inhabitants of the town bathing, and the sharks hastening to seize upon them,—they being visible from always swimming with part of their dorsal fin out of water. I sent to warn the men of their danger, and all came ashore except one, who laughed at the caution of his companions. A huge shark was rapidly approaching, and I sent my servant again, and this time armed with half a bottle of rum, to bribe the man to save himself. It was too late, the murderous creature had seized him, and the water around was dyed with his blood. A canoe was dispatched to bring him ashore, but a wave threw him on to the beach; and it was found that the shark had taken the thigh bone completely out of the socket. The man, of course, expired in a very few minutes. Accidents were often happening, and always fatal, and yet the negroes, who seldom think beyond the present moment, could not be dissuaded from bathing. A man walking in the sea, up to knees, was dragged away by one, almost before my eyes."
The Rays. The Rays are large flat fish of which there are numerous species, the Thornback and the Common Skate being the best known. They have large pectoral fins, and some species grow to an enormous size. The Skate has been known to measure six or seven feet. Other species are the Homelyn Ray and the Sandy Ray which like the Thornback and the Skate are found in British waters. The Sting Ray and the Eagle Ray cover wider areas and grow to a gigantic size in tropic seas. It is a large species of the Eagle Ray that is known as the Sea Devil of the tropics. These fish, though very large, display no great antipathy to man, though from their enormous size and strength they are a source of danger to small craft. Mr. Swinburne Ward in a letter to Colonel Playfair, quoted in Dr. Percival Wright's "Concise Natural History", thus describes the capture of one of these monsters off the Seychelles.
"Coming home we passed close to an enormous 'diable-de-mer' floating quietly about. We changed from the pirogue to the Whale-boat, which I had scientifically fitted up for the gros poissons, and went alongside of him, driving a regular whale harpoon right through his body. The way he towed the water was beautiful, but we would not give him an inch of line and he also had to succumb to a rather protracted lancing. His size will give you an idea of his strength in the water—forty-two feet in circumference! We got him awash on the beach, but the united strength of ten men could not get him an inch further, so we were obliged to leave him there. By this time the sharks will not have left much of him; they have not had such a meal as that for a long time. The fishermen say that when alive the sharks do not molest the 'diable-de-mer', whose offensive weapons consist of those enormous flexible sides (one can hardly call them fins) with which they can beat almost any shark to death. As a rule when harpooned, they endeavour, like other rays, to bury themselves in the sand, and if they succeed in doing this, no line can ever haul them out of it—their flat bodies act on the principle of an enormous sucker. Another curious fact about them is that when harpooned they swim sideways, edge on, in order to avoid exposing too broad a surface to their enemy. They never do this unless harpooned."
Ray Catching. Lieutenant Lament gave the following graphic description of a Ray fishing expedition in which he took part near Port Royal, Jamaica, in 1824, to Professor Jameson.
"The first appearance of an animal of this species, since I have been here, (about eighteen months,) was about two months ago, when I was called out to the beach by some of the inhabitants, whom I found, on going there, to be assembled in great numbers, to see what they called the Sea Devil. I confess my curiosity was not less excited than theirs, when I saw floating close to the surface of the water, about twenty yards from me, a large mass of living substance of a dark colour, but of the shape and size of which I could not, at the time, form any proper idea, it being so very different from what I had ever before seen or heard of, farther than that I supposed it to have been many times the size of what I now believe it was. No time was lost in setting out in pursuit of him, with harpoons, &c.; and it was not long before he was come up with, and struck with one of the harpoons, when he made off with great velocity, towing the boat after him. As he seemed to incline chiefly to the surface of the water, six or seven more harpoons were (with the assistance of several canoes that had come up) successively plunged into him, and all the boats made fast to each other, which he was obliged to pull after him, with several people in each. Such, however, was the great strength of the animal, that, after being fast in the manner I have described, for upwards of four hours, and taking the boats out to sea attached to him to a distance of about ten miles from the harbour, and having been pierced with so many wounds, he was still able to defy every effort to bring him in. It had now got late, and was dark, and an attempt was made to force him up near enough to get another large harpoon into him, this was no sooner done, than he darted off; and by an almost unaccountable and seemingly convulsive effort, in a moment broke loose from all fetters, carrying away with him eight or ten harpoons and pikes, and leaving every one staring at his neighbour in speechless astonishment, confounded at the power of the animal which could thus snatch himself from them at a time when they conceived him almost completely in their power.
"Since then some of these animals have occasionally been heard of at a distance from the harbour; and a few days ago, in coming over from Port Augusta with another gentleman, we fell in with one of them, which allowed us to get so near him, that it was determined to set out the next morning to look for him. We did so; and took with us several large harpoons, muskets, pikes, &c., determined, if it were possible, to bring him in. He was descried about eight o'clock near Greenwich, towards the top of the harbour, as usual floating near the surface, and moving slowly about. Having allowed the boat to get very close to him, he was struck with a harpoon, which was thrown at him in a most dexterous manner by Lieutenant St. John, of the royal artillery. He immediately set out towards the mouth of the harbour, towing the boat after him with such velocity, that it could not be overtaken by any of the others. After going on this way for near an hour he turned back, which enabled the other boats to lay hold; and four of them were tied, one after the other, to the one in which he was harpooned, with four of five people in each of them. By this means we hoped to tire him out the sooner. In about an hour and a half after he was first struck, a favourable opportunity offering, a large five-pointed harpoon, made fast to a very heavy staff, was thrown at him with such an elevation, that it should fall upon him with the whole weight of the weapon—this having been as well directed as the first, was lodged nearly in the middle of his back. The struggle he made at this time to get away was truly tremendous,—plunging in the midst of the boats,—darting from the bottom to the surface alternately,—dashing the water and foam on every side of him,—and rolling round and round to extricate himself from the pole. This might be considered as having given him the coup de grace, although, at short intervals afterwards, he was struck with two more harpoons, and several musket balls were fired into him. Still he was able to set out again, taking the four boats after him, which he carried along with the greatest ease. Having gone in this way for some time he came to a stop, and laid himself to the bottom, when, with all the lines that were attached to him, it was quite impossible to move him. All expedients were nearly beginning to fail, when it was proposed to slacken the lines, which being done had the desired effect, and he again set out. Having thus got him from the ground, inch by inch was gained upon him, till he was got near the surface, when he was struck with two large pikes. He now got rather faint; and the boats closing on him on every side, the combat became general with pikes, muskets, and every weapon we had. In fact, to such a pitch were all excited on the occasion, that, had a cool spectator seen the affray, he would undoubtedly have imagined that it was his sable majesty himself that we had got amongst us. He was now towed ashore, being about five hours since he was first struck. This it required all the boats to do, and then but very slowly. His appearance now showed the extraordinary tenacity of life of which this animal must be possessed, as his whole body was literally a heap of wounds, many of which were through and through, and he was not yet quite dead. This circumstance, with his great strength, is the cause of the name which has been given him by the fishermen here, as they have never been able to succeed in taking one of them, and were firmly of opinion it was impossible to do so.
"On measurement, it was found to be in length and breadth much the same, about fifteen feet, and in depth from three to four feet. It had the appearance of having no head, as there was no prominence at its mouth; on the contrary, its exterior margin formed, as it were, the segment of a circle, with its arc towards the animal's body, and opening into a large cavity of about two feet and a half in width, without teeth, into which a man went with so much ease, that I do not exaggerate when I say, that another might have done so at the same time. On each side of the mouth projected a mass of cartilaginous substance like horns, about a foot and a half long, and capable of meeting before the mouth. These feelers moved about a great deal in swimming, and are probably of use in feeding. On looking on this animal as it lay on the ground with its back upwards, it might be said to be nearly equal in dimensions on every side, with the exception of the two lateral extremities, extending to a point about four feet from the body, and a tail about five feet long, four and a half inches diameter at the root, and tapering to a point. Above the root of the tail was the dorsal fin, and on each side of it a flat and flabby substance close to the body, of the appearance of fins. There were no other distinct fins, and its sole propelling power seemed to be its two lateral extremities, which became very flat and thin towards the point. As it shows these much in swimming, it gives a spectator an extraordinary idea of its size, as, to him imperfectly seen, the conclusion naturally is, if the breadth is so great, how much greater must the length be. This animal was a female, and was viviparous. On opening it, a young one, about twenty pounds weight, was taken out, perfectly formed, and which had been preserved. Wishing to know what it fed upon, I saw the stomach opened, which was round, about eight inches in diameter, and quite empty. It was closely studded over with circular spots of a muscular substance. Under the stomach was a long bag, with transverse muscular layers from end to end, and which contained nothing but some slime and gravel. This muscular appearance of the digestive organs would lead one to suppose that it fed upon other fish, as is the general opinion here, though its having no teeth does not support that idea. Its weight was so great that it was impossible to ascertain it at the time; but some idea may be formed of it when I assure you that it was with difficulty that forty men, with two lines attached to it, could drag it along the ground. Its bones were soft, and, with the exception of the jaw-bones, could be cut with a knife. One ridge of bone ran from the mouth to the middle of the back, where it was met by another running transversely, from the extremities of which there were two larger ones converging towards the tail."