BARRACUDA AND SHARKS 



what circumstances will sharks eat men?" will probably never be dis- 

 posed of satisfactorily. History indicates that surf bathers at the popular 

 resorts are safe, and yet this statement must be qualified. During one 

 summer, 191 6 if I remember correctly, three bathers were killed at dif- 

 ferent points on the New Jersey coast between Raritan River and Beach 

 Haven. These reports are the only ones I recollect having seen in the 

 press. The attacks, compared with the number of bathers who have en- 

 joyed the surf along this part of the coast over a period of say twenty 

 years, would amount to one in many milHons, and as a risk should be 

 considered negligible. 



It would seem, however, that an element of danger to bathers exists 

 in tropical waters. At the U.S. Army posts in the Canal Zone, the bath- 

 ing beaches are enclosed by fences of wire net to keep sharks out. At the 

 bathing beaches on the shores of Australia, where sharks have been ob- 

 served in greater quantities than in any other part of the world, watchers 

 are employed to give warning to the bathers when sharks are approach- 

 ing. These precautions must be based upon experience. In Nassau, visitors 

 are warned against swimming in the harbor, but the importance of this 

 warning may be questioned because of the numbers of negroes who row 

 around the cruise boats begging the passengers to throw coins in the 

 water for them to retrieve by diving. On the other hand, they may be 

 safe by reason of the color of their skins. 



To conclude this subject, it may be said that there is no danger to 

 the diver of attack from voracious fishes if he confines his undersea ex- 

 cursions to sea gardens in twenty feet of water or less, or to places near 

 shore in Northern latitudes. If he craves danger, he can go to waters 

 known to be infested by sharks. He can even emulate J. E. Williamson 

 who entered into combat with a shark while men in his photosphere 

 worked madly at their cameras.* 



* 20 Years Under the Sea. Williamson (Hale, Cushman and Flint) . 



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