NOTES 
Report on a Fatal Attack by a Shark 
Attacks by sharks on human beings in coastal 
waters of the United States are rare, and until 
comparatively recently all known cases were re- 
ported from the Atlantic Coast. However, on 
October 10, 1950, a swimmer at Imperial Beach, 
California, was attacked and seriously injured by 
a shark. Although this story was widely printed 
in the newspapers, no record of it seems to have 
appeared in any scientific journal. A similar 
attack, this one fatal, has now occurred in cen- 
tral California. In view of the rarity of such 
events and the considerable amount of evidence 
available in the most recent case, it seems proper 
to report on this latest tragic occurrence at 
Pacific Grove. 
On December 7, 1952, at about two o’clock 
in the afternoon, Barry Wilson, age 17, of Pac- 
ific Grove, was attacked by a large shark while 
swimming close to shore. His screams, and 
those of an observer on shore, attracted the 
attention of his friend, 15 -year-old Brookner 
Brady, Jr., of the Presidio of Monterey, who 
was swimming close by. Brady immediately 
swam to the aid of his friend and began to tow 
the wounded youth toward the beach. Four 
other swimmers, all members of the Sea Otter 
Club, a skin-diving group, and all excellent 
swimmers, were also attracted by the screams 
and unhesitatingly came to help Brady. These 
men (Sgt. Earl Stanley, 63rd Military Police 
Platoon, Fort Ord; Robert Shaw, 313th Criminal 
Investigation Detachment, Fort Ord; Frank M. 
Ambrosio, California State Highway Patrol, 
Monterey; and John L.Poskus, mathematics and 
physics teacher at the Monterey High School), 
using an inflated rubber tube to support the 
unconscious Wilson, brought the stricken youth 
to shore, where it was learned that death had 
already occurred. 
An unusual circumstance is that John C. Bass- 
ford, assistant manager of the Monterey office 
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 
an intelligent observer and himself an enthusi- 
astic skin-diver qualified by experience to judge 
what was happening in the water, saw the initial 
attack from an elevated vantage point at a dis- 
tance of only about 30 yards. Furthermore, three 
of the participants in the attempted rescue have 
had extensive police experience and, conse- 
quently, training in the accurate observation and 
reporting of events of violence. In spite of the 
frantic excitement of the drama in which they 
participated, the stories of all the witnesses cor- 
roborate one another except in minor and un- 
important details. As a result it is possible to 
make what I believe to be an accurate identi- 
fication of the shark and to cast a little light 
on its behavior. 
The attack took place just outside the breaker 
line, about 25 yards off the tip of Point Aulone 
(locally known as Lover’s Point), approximately 
36°38' North Latitude, 121°55' West Longitude. 
The rocky shore at the tip of the point falls off 
abruptly, and the water at the scene of the 
tragedy is about 30 feet deep. The temperature 
of the water was just average for that date and 
had been slowly falling from 14.1°C. during the 
previous week; 12.9°C. had been recorded at 
9:00 A.M. at the Hopkins Marine Station, about 
three quarters of a mile to the southeast, and a 
reading of 12.7°C. was obtained at 6:10 p.m. on 
the bathing beach at the base of Point Aulone. 
A rather heavy surf was running to heights of 
perhaps 8 feet, and the water was rather murky, 
due to rain runoff from land on the previous 
night and to a comparatively heavy plankton 
production, so that the visibility for the men 
in the water was limited to a distance of 6 or 8 
feet. It was an afternoon of intermittent sun- 
shine and cloud shadow. 
Mr. Bassford had just moved to an elevated 
vantage point on the extreme tip of the rocks 
in order to watch the two boys swimming almost 
directly below him, when he saw Wilson jerk 
himself around in the water and peer in all di- 
rections. In a moment he noted a look of terror 
on Wilson’s face and then, for the first time, 
saw the shark approaching the youth on the 
surface. It struck the boy from in front and 
heaved him out of the water to the level of his 
thighs. The shark was probably turning some- 
what on its side to strike at the upright figure, 
since Bassford had the impression of seeing the 
pectoral fin as well as the dorsal. Wilson, with 
both hands on the shark’s back and pushing 
at arm’s length in an effort to free himself, fHl 
sideward and was immediately pulled under. 
Bassford feels that the boy was not submerged 
by the force of his own fall but was inexorably 
pulled down by the shark. For a moment noth- 
105 
