Fatal Attack by Shark — Bolin 
107 
Fig. 1. Fatal wounds inflicted by a shark thought 
to have been Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus). 
but the medial border was sharp as if cut by a 
knife, and the line of incision was continued by 
a series of equally spaced triangular cuts. An 
extensive festoon of skin and subcutaneous tis- 
sue connected the anterior and posterior limits 
of the wound dorsally. This makes it impossible 
to believe that the wound was inflicted by a 
single strike but suggests the probability that 
two attacks, one primarily from the medial sur- 
face and the other from a dorsolateral direction, 
impinged upon each other. It is significant that 
Stanley and Shaw, who were the first to reach 
Brady struggling with his burden, both saw the 
wound in the water and were of the impression 
that it was not as severe as it appeared on land- 
ing. This lends credence to the belief that the 
shark struck Wilson later while he was being 
laced in the tube and was almost surrounded 
y swimmers. 
Additional wounds marred almost the entire 
left leg. The anterior and lateral surfaces of the 
thigh bore a wide and ugly transverse cut which 
extended to the bone. Similar but somewhat 
smaller gashes cut across the calf and shin. Some 
of the more superficial markings appear to me 
to provide better evidence of the nature of the 
attacker than do these more conspicuous wounds. 
They were of three general types. Several linear 
lacerations, up to about 4 inches long and prob- 
ably not more than V 2 inch deep, looked like 
razor slashes and could be interpreted as caused 
by shark’s teeth slitting sidewise through the 
flesh. A number of comparatively superficial 
gashes, several inches long and about an inch 
wide and pointed at one end, could have been 
made by shark’s teeth which were not biting 
deeply and were slipping through the skin lon- 
gitudinally. Most significant were a few incon- 
spicuous wounds on the left leg, each in the 
form of two superficial cuts meeting at an angle 
like the legs of an almost equilateral triangle a 
little over 1 inch on a side. These appeared to 
me to be the imprint made by the teeth of a 
shark which was gently mouthing instead of 
biting its victim. Unfortunately, they do not 
show on the photographs. No clear imprint of 
the jaws was visible, but the area of laceration 
on the left thigh was rather sharply defined and 
about 10 inches wide. 
The number and character of the wounds 
suggest that Wilson was bitten at least four 
times, and the corroboratory evidence of the 
witnesses indicates the sequence: first, on the 
lower left leg from behind, which strike wounded 
and startled him; second, on the medial surface 
of the right thigh, when the shark approached 
him from in front and, passing partially between 
his legs, lifted him high out of the water; 
third, on the upper left leg from the back and 
side, when Wilson struck in desperation at the 
water; and, finally, on the back and side of the 
right thigh, while he was being placed in the 
tube and when he was undoubtedly already 
dead. 
At first there was some question on the part 
of the police, the coroner, and the general public 
as to the sort of animal responsible for the at- 
tack. Barracuda, sea lions, killer whales, and 
even porpoises were suspected. However, all the 
people who witnessed the actual attack or saw 
the animal while participating in the attempted 
rescue state unequivocally that it was a shark. 
Three professional ichthyologists, J. B. Phillips 
of the California Department of Fish and Game, 
Robert W. Morris of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, and myself, viewed the body. Although 
