2 DANGEROUS MARINE ANIMALS 



at a deeper level. It is rather interesting to note that many of these 

 observations of Pliny are accepted facts in some diving circles 

 today. 



Rondelet, the famous French physician and naturalist of the Ren- 

 naissance, frequently lacked facts, but never originality. He describes 

 a footman whom he reportedly "observed" running down the beach 

 pursued by a dogfish hot at his heels. Fortunately, he struck at the 

 beast with his foot and killed it. The dogfish in those days must 

 have been real marathon runners! It was Rondelet who also con- 

 tended that Jonah of the Scriptures was swallowed by a shark 

 rather than a whale. 



One of the earliest references to a shark actually attacking a man 

 was published by Olaus Magnus in Rome in his Septentrionalibus, 

 written about 1555. Included in this work is a drawing of several 

 sharks attacking a bather, who is in the process of being rescued 

 by a "kindly" ray. 



In 1623, the Dutch navigator, Carstenszoon, recorded sharks and 

 swordfishes and other "unnatural monsters" from the waters near 

 Cape York, Queensland, and alluded to some of their dangers. 



According to Dr. Paul Budker, a modern French scholar on 

 sharks, these beasts were regarded with great fear by sailors work- 

 ing in the Mediterranean during the 18th Century. The sailors 

 believed that a shark would not attack except in hunger, in which 

 case, they would have to throw the monster a loaf of bread. If this 

 did not suffice, a sailor would have to be lowered by a rope to the 

 surface of the water and look menacingly at the shark — otherwise 

 the shark would grab the vessel with its teeth and devour it. Well, 

 such was life in the good old days ! 



Probably the greatest number of shark attacks have taken place 

 in Australian waters. The first recorded shark tragedy in that 

 region is by Tench in 1793 in The Narrative of the Expedition to 

 Botany Bay. He refers to a female aboriginal, who was bitten in 

 half by a shark in New South Wales several years before. Francois 

 Peron, the naturalist for the Baudin expedition, described a shark 

 attack which occurred at Faure Island, Hamelin Harbour, Western 

 Australia, in 1803. 



The question as to whether sharks prefer dark or light-skinned 

 victims is a favorite topic for argument among old salts. This is a 

 question which appears to have originated with Count Bernard 

 Lacepede, the famous French naturalist, who vigorously debated 

 the subject with some of his colleagues during the early 1800's. 

 Lacepede was of the firm opinion that sharks were attracted more 



