152 Man and Shark 



But stranger than all the tall tales inspired by sharks, more incredible 

 than any sharky yarn told by a fibber of the foc'sle, are the true stories 

 that have starred sharks. Crimes have been revealed and mysteries raised 

 from the deep by the shark's habit of gulping down whatever passes 

 before its mouth. 



Shark-delivered mail of a grim sort was reported by Italian fishermen 

 in 1952. They said they had found a bottle in a shark they had caught, 

 and in the bottle was a letter a French fisherman, dying alone on a life- 

 raft, had written as a farewell to his wife and children. 



Sharks have three times ferreted out crimes which undoubtedly would 

 never have been detected without their aid. Each of these true stories is 

 well documented, and each is based, not on rumor or legend, but on 

 the chronicles of courts and the footnotes of history. 



Truth from the Jaws of a Shark: On July 3, 1799, the Nancy, a brig 

 of 125 tons, slipped out of Baltimore and into the Chesapeake, bound 

 south for forbidden waters. The Nancy, an American ship, was barred 

 from where she was going, the British West Indies. But her owners had 

 hit upon a scheme to disguise her true identity. 



She sailed first to Curagao, a Dutch colony in the West Indies, where 

 she obtained fraudulent ownership papers indicating that she was owned 

 by a Dutchman. With these papers, she sailed on. But, on August 28th, 

 she was overtaken by a British cutter, H.M.S. Sparrow. The cutter's cap- 

 tain. Lieutenant Hugh Wylie, was unimpressed by the Dutch papers. He 

 put a prize crew aboard the Nancy and ordered it taken to Port Royal, 

 Jamaica, where the case could be settled in the Court of Vice-Ad- 

 miralty. 



Meanwhile, the crew of another British vessel, the Ferret, caught a 

 shark, in whose jaws were found the papers of an American ship— the 

 Nancy. By chance, the captain of the Ferret invited Lieutenant Wylie 

 aboard for breakfast around the time the shark was captured. Wylie 

 examined the shark-produced papers and immediately perceived the 

 fraudulence of the Dutch "ownership" papers he had sealed with his 

 own hand when he sent the Nancy to Port Royal. 



The "Shark Papers," as they came to be called, were introduced into 

 court in time to prove the true ownership of the Nancy, and, on Novem- 

 ber 25th, 1799, she and her cargo were condemned as a prize. 



When the case ended, the shark's jaws, which measured 22 inches 

 at their widest point, were set up on shore in Kingston as a warning to 

 perjurers that the truth can be found, even if it is sunk in the sea. And 

 with the jaws was a sign that said: "Lieutenant Fitton recommends these 

 jaws for a collar for neutrals to swear through." The "Shark Papers" are 

 still on exhibit in the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston. 



