The Shadows Attack 13 



The savage triangular teeth of a Great White shark show plainly in this specimen, 

 which is a small Carcharodon carcharias. No other shark has teeth hke the Great 

 White's. Note that it is not truly a "white" shark. The underbellies of virtually all 

 sharks are white. The upper body of the Great White may vary from an oyster-shell 

 white to deepening shades of gray. Courtesy, Miami Seaquarium 



Six days after the attack, a shark was finally caught in Matawan 

 Creek— by none other than Captain Cottrell. He was coming up the 

 creek in his motorboat Skiid with his son-in-law, Richard Lee, when, 

 about 400 yards from the bay, not far from the bridge where he had 

 first seen that lethal shadow, he saw a dorsal fin rise out of the water, then 

 disappear. Swiftly, he and Lee let out several yards of gill net, weighted 

 with lead at the bottom and strung with corks on the top. The net bil- 

 lowed out as the outgoing tide carried it down-creek. Both ends of the 

 net were secured in the boat. By deft maneuvering, the Captain trapped 

 the shark between boat and net. The shark struggled furiously but, foot 

 by foot, the two men hauled in the net, which was to be the shark's 

 shroud. 



Using the hull of his boat as an anvil, Cottrell smashed the shark on 

 the head again and again with a large mallet. When he was convinced 

 the shark was dead, Cottrell hauled it ashore. It weighed 230 pounds 

 and was almost exactly 7 feet long. He put it on exhibition in his fish 

 shed, and nearly everyone in Matawan and Keyport lined up to see it as 

 it lay on ice. They paid 10 cents each to view the "Terror of Matawan 

 Creek." 



In Bridgehampton, Long Island, scene of another shark scare, a fish- 

 erman caught a shark, rented a zinc-lined coffin from a local undertaker, 

 and exhibited his shark for 5 cents a look. 



