126 Man Against Shark 



from the shrimp. As the shovelfuls of trash are dumped into the sea, 

 schools of sharks gather behind the boat and excitedly feast upon the 

 fishermen's largess. 



In a classified report on the use of the repellent against shark packs, 

 one of the researchers said: "Sharks were attracted to the back of the 

 shrimp boat with trash fish. The sharks appeared as a slashing, splashing 

 shoal. We prepared a tub of fresh fish and another tub of fish mixed with 

 repellent powder ... I shoveled over the plain fish for 30 seconds while 

 the sharks, with much splashing, ate them. Then I started on the re- 

 pellent fish and shoveled for 30 seconds, after which I shoveled plain 

 fish for 30 seconds, repeating the procedure three times. 



"On the first trial the sharks were quite ferocious in feeding on the 

 plain fish right at the stem of the boat. They cut fish for only about 

 five minutes after the repellent mixture was thrown over. A few came 

 back when the plain fish were put out immediately following the re- 

 pellent. On a second trial 30 minutes later, a ferocious school fed for 

 the 30 seconds that plain fish were supplied, but left as soon as the re- 

 pellent struck the water. There were no attacks on fish while the re- 

 pellent was in the water. On the third trial we could not get the sharks 

 nearer than 20 yards to the stern of the boat." 



The repellent appeared to be an astounding success. The government 

 ordered a crash program for manufacturing it in cakes to be attached to 

 lifejackets. Copper acetate was mixed with a nigrosine-type dye, which 

 released a blue-black cloud. Compressed into a cake that was packed into 

 an envelope, the repellent was eventually attached to the lifejackets 

 issued to servicemen. They were instructed to open the envelope and 

 swish the cake around them when threatened by sharks. The repellent 

 would diffuse in the sea and surround the swimmer with a cloud of dye 

 and copper acetate. 



The shark repellent was classified a military secret, and its produc- 

 tion was not disclosed to civilians who wondered what the awful 

 smell was around the Borden Company's Shark Industries Division plant 

 in Salerno, Florida. Borden, which had been catching sharks to extract 

 vitamin A from their livers, boiled down shark meat in great vats to 

 extract the essence of the repellent. (The Borden dead-shark repellent 

 manufacturing was soon supplemented by mass production of the chemi- 

 cal repellent.) 



The repellent, dubbed "Shark Chaser," was issued as part of all Mae 

 West (lifejacket) and life-raft equipment. How effective it was will 

 probably never be known. Thousands of men were set adrift in seas all 

 over the world during the war, and undoubtedly the repellent provided 

 them with at least an important psychological weapon against sharks. 

 "Beyond question, the greatest value of the Shark Chaser was the mental 

 relief and sense of security it afi^orded the men who had it on hand," 



