Captain Shark-Killer 



71 



"Men tried to beat the sharks off with oars. The oars broke over their 

 heads— or a shark would grab an oar in his teeth and splinter it as if it was a 

 toothpick. 



"Some of the men went crazy and jumped right into the sharks' jaws. 



"How long the nightmare went on, Bill, I don't know. It ended as fast as it 

 started. The sharks just disappeared. They didn't go away hungry, though. I'll 

 vouch for that." 



MoREHEAD City, North Carolina 



We're supplying sharks for a fascinating shark "disassembly line" at the 

 Ocean Leather shark station here. 



We're catching between 50 and 60 a day (on good days, and that's what 

 most of them are). As soon as we pull into one of the station's wharves, the 

 sharks are quickly unloaded and skinned right there on the platform. A skilled 

 skinner can do the job in less than 15 minutes, providing his knife is razor-sharp 

 and he knows his shark anatomy. The shark's dorsal fins are first hacked off. 

 Then a long slit is made down the midline of the back. Next, the skinner peels 

 away the hide by pulling it with one hand while, with the other hand, he wields 



Shark-skinning is an art demanding skill— and a very sharp knife. The dotted lines on 

 the figure of the shark and the hide show where trims are made. Skinning, according 

 to Captain Young, begins with a cut down the center of the back, then up to the head 

 and around the eyes and the gill slits. A second skinning operation begins along the 

 top of the tail and is continued up the underside to the ventral fin, around it and back 

 to the other side again. The result: the hide comes off in one piece, shaped as shown. 



From Shark! Shark! 



