Sharks on a Line 



105 



Dogs confront a shark which is being brought aboard H.M.S. Challenger, the converted 

 British man-of-war which logged 68,350 miles in an epic oceanographic voyage that 

 began in 1872 and lasted three and a half years. From an old print 



When the boat started heading home for Looe, the seemingly dead 

 shark was removed from under the floorboards to be washed down. 

 The man who washed the shark noticed that something was emerging 

 from her, and the call went out for Dr. Newnham. 



"Within a very short space of time," the doctor noted in his clinical 

 report on the case, "the tail of the first baby shark presented itself. This 

 was rapidly followed by a further four babies and two spherical bright 

 yellow objects which were enclosed in loose folds of membrane and 

 which were taken to be placentae. . . . 



"Each of the first five baby sharks born was alive and made swimming 

 movements in the fluid which was escaping from the mother and which 

 had changed in appearance and become far less viscous and clear. Pal- 

 pation of the abdomen suggested that there were more to come and, by 



