NOTES 
Fatal Shark Attack, Oahu, Hawaii, December 13, 1958 1 
Albert L. Tester 2 
On December 13, 1958, a large shark believed 
to be Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark, was 
responsible for the death of 15 -year-old William 
(Billy) Weaver in water about 12 feet in depth 
off Lanikai on the windward (east) coast of 
the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Although the story 
of the tragedy was well covered in the local 
newspapers, a condensed version has been pre- 
pared which includes information of interest to 
scientists who are concerned with factors moti- 
vating shark attack. In preparing the account 
which follows, conflicting stories have been re- 
solved and additional information has been ob- 
tained by correspondence and interview with 
several of the persons directly or indirectly in- 
volved. Additional information on shark iden- 
tification, shark fishing, etc., was supplied by the 
staffs of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, 
Division of Fish and Game, and the Bureau of 
Commercial Fisheries, Pacific Oceanic Fisheries 
Investigation. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE INCIDENT 
A party of six boys including the victim 
(Billy Weaver) and five friends (Terry Oak- 
land, age 14; Tom Replogle, 14; Garrett Goo, 
13; Brook Collins, 10; and Charles Collins, 9) 
were swimming and surfing about noon off a 
reef near Twin Islands (Mokulua Island) about 
mile off Lanikai (Fig. 1). They had three 
surfboards which were light green, red and 
"natural” in color, three air mattresses which 
were red on one side and blue on the other, and 
an 8-foot sailboat, without mast or sail, which 
was white in color and anchored near the reef. 
1 Contribution No. 125 of the Hawaii Marine Lab- 
oratory, University of Hawaii. Manuscript received 
April 6, 1959- 
2 Department of Zoology and Entomology, Univer- 
sity of Hawaii. 
The sky was clear but the water was rough with 
whitecaps and good-sized waves. The boys kept 
together; never was one more than 75-100 feet 
from the others. 
About 1 p.m. Brook Collins was resting in the 
boat with his surfboard across it; Charles Col- 
lins was resting on his surfboard beside the boat, 
holding on to the anchor line — he was afraid of 
the waves after "pearl diving” on one. The four 
older boys were surfing off the reef. Garrett Goo 
and Terry Oakland, on air mattresses, and Tom 
Replogle, on the light green surfboard, caught 
a wave and rode a short distance. Billy Weaver, 
on an air mattress, failed to catch the wave. 
When about 50 yards away, the boys noticed 
that Weaver was clinging to the mat, apparently 
in difficulty. On hearing a feeble cry for help, 
Goo swam over, saw blood in the water, and 
realized that Weaver had lost a leg. The three 
boys attempted to support the victim and called 
to Brook Collins to bring the boat over. After 
some difficulty in freeing the anchor from the 
coral, Brook Collins hauled it up and started 
rowing. As the boat was coming too slowly, 
Garrett Goo swam to it, climbed aboard, and 
pushed the surfboard off the boat to make more 
room for rowing. Brook Collins, standing up in 
the boat, saw a large shark surface 30 feet away, 
and screamed "Shark.” The two boys supporting 
the victim pushed him toward the reef, and 
swam frantically to the boat. By the time they 
reached the boat he had disappeared. As they 
could not approach the spot where he had been 
last seen without risk of swamping the boat in 
the waves, the boys rowed to shore and sum- 
moned help. 
A Fire Department rescue squad arrived at 
2:30 p.m. and sped to the scene in a borrowed 
2 5 -foot Chris-Craft boat. Local residents in other 
boats joined in the search. The body was finally 
181 
