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white shark, Carcharodon carcharias |
Notice how close to the pectoral fins the dorsal fin is. Also notice the white showing on the bottom side. A basking shark would have its dorsal much farther back from the pectoral fins, and would not show as much white along the sides and bottom.-------Pete Duley photo |
June 21, 2005 - A North East Fisheries Science Center flight investigating a report of a floating whale carcass about 20 miles SE of Block Is., discovers a white shark approx 16 feet long and photographs it from the air. |
So what about white sharks today? Because white sharks have become more numerous in New England, and many white sharks have been recently tagged at Chatham Mass., I have put into this website another page dealing with present up to date white shark info that can be accessed at page 12 or by the recent white shark info on the links below. |
Twelve Days of Terror by Richard G. Fernicola, M.D. is a fantastic book on the fatal 1916 New Jersey shark attacks. It has great insight into the attacks, and the people and attitudes of that time period. The book is thoroughly researched. The true story of these sensational attacks is more interesting than anything Hollywood could imagine. You get a good picture of life in America at the turn of that century and how a marine event could change the lives and habits of Americans. |
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Welcome to NewEnglandSharks.com Links to other pages are at the bottom of each page. |
Whites are a protected species - release unharmed White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias Fully grown 16-19 feet and a weight of 2,500-5,500 lbs. |
Man-eater! That was the common name used for centuries to describe the shark species, Carcharodon carcharias. From the 1975 movie "JAWS": Mayor Vaughn: "And what did you say the name of this shark is?" Hooper: "It's a Carcharodon carcharias. It's a Great White." The 1975 Movie JAWS made the words "great white" and “white shark” popular with the public, and “man-eater” is rarely used today. That common word change from "man-eater" to "great white" or "white shark," helped in getting Carcharodon carcharias to become a prohibited species. It’s a lot easier to get support to protect a “white shark,” than it would be to protect a “man-eater”. The other common names used to describe this species such as “white shark," “white pointer,” “great white shark" and “white death,” seems to have come into popular usage because Carcharodon carcharias shows so much white on the belly and sides. The white on the sides abruptly changes to the topside color without the usual transitional area seen on many other shark species. In the past, books and articles on sharks attributed a white sharks maximum length to be 30 feet or more. Those claims have been debunked by using today’s methods of investigation. The largest of the whites are generally 16-19 feet long over-all, and would weigh between 2,500-5,500 pounds. Today, estimates still persist of whites around 26 feet long based on bites taken out of whale carcasses. Although claims of whites that size have been made, no whites anywhere near 26 feet have been verified. Realistically, 22 feet is about maximum for this species. Thats an incredibly large shark. Whites are worldwide, and tolerate a wider range of water temperatures than most other sharks, They function in water temperatures between the lower 40s and 80 degrees- so a hardy specimen could be here in mid -winter, as has happened in the past, when a white was gill netted in February 1938 off Plymouth, Mass. The whites tagged at Chatham Mass. from 2009, thru 2012 mostly wintered off Florida . Larger whites eat marine mammals, in addition to eating fish. They will also scavenge whale carcasses on the surface and on the bottom. Whites are considered to be primarily daytime hunters. Biologists tell us white sharks can go more than a month between feedings-if necessary. I am sure if the pickings were easy, like they are at some seal colonies, they would eat more often than that. I decided to check on the white shark feeding interval, and here is an e-mail exchange between me and others on a shark list. My question is, "What is the shortest time between SUCCESSFUL feedings of an individual white shark have you witnessed?" - Tom I got this answer from Sean R. Van Sommeran, Executive Director/CEO, The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation in California. (ANI is most likely Sean's abbreviation for Ano Nuevo Island, in California.) "There is one shark we know from ANI that was involved in at least 3 seal predations within a span of less than 30 days, mind you this 30 day window involved an observer and site presence (boatbased) of about 4-7 hours per day (sun up til it gets choppy/windy) and a few days were scrubbed due to rough spells during this time frame. The shark is an adult female est at 5meters, we saw her feeding on all three occasions. taking 3 to 8 bites respectively,(30-80lbs?). Sean's observation above, is backed up by recent data: - John Johnson, Newser Staff Mar 21, 2013 (NEWSER) - Great white sharks are a lot hungrier than scientists realized, a new study suggests. The old line of thinking, based on research done in the 1980s, is that a great white could snack on, say, a 60-pound seal pup and go six weeks without another meal. As it turns out, it's more like two weeks, max, say researchers at the University of Tasmania, reports AFP. In fact, the sharks are likely to be feeding every few days, not every few weeks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 1975 movie “JAWS” portrayed the white shark as a terrifying creature. It caused anxiety among many of the movie goers-especially those who swim in the ocean. The public was told the inspiration for "Jaws" was the series of real-life fatal shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916. Books and articles came out after the movie describing those gruesome New Jersey shark attacks. The combination of "Jaws", it's sequels, and the details of the 1916 attacks, especially the last two fatal attacks which occurred in an unlikely place, a salt water tidal creek at Mattawan, New Jersey, made anxious-people feel they weren’t safe from a white shark attack anywhere in salt water. -Tom |
Any mention of white sharks brings to mind shark attacks. Here is info on several fatal shark attacks in our New England waters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fatal New England Shark attacks. The top three shark species involved in fatal attacks around the world are the white, Carcharodon carcharias, the tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier, and the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas. Two of those species, the white and tiger, are definitely in New England waters. Bull sharks would be a rare visitor to southern New England. Claims of bull sharks being caught in southern New England have turned out to be dusky sharks. Besides the tiger and white, we have other shark species in New England capable of inflicting serious wounds on people, such as the blue shark, Prionace glauca, and the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, and a few more; but the white would be the first suspect in a fatal-attack anywhere in New England, especially one occurring close to shore. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---First a little background that illustrates the lack of knowledge about sharks that persisted well into the 1900s - actually not much was learned about sharks until after WWII. Along the New Jersey coast in 1916, four swimmers were killed and another swimmer was injured in shark attacks on July 1st, 6th, and 12th. Those attacks are purported to be the inspiration for the movie JAWS. The shark experts in 1916 should have worn dunce caps when they made public statements about those shark attacks. They just didn't know much about sharks. Prior too, and after those attacks, some of the leading experts didn’t believe sharks would make an unprovoked attack on people, or that sharks had the jaw strength to do the damage those victims suffered. They also believed that shark attacks would not happen in the cooler water north of Cape Hatteras. The 1916 shark attacks were initially blamed on other sea creatures; a turtle, tuna, killer whale and swordfish, before it became painfully obvious they were in fact, shark attacks-a conclusion a Kansas farmer who never saw a shark, or the ocean, might have reached quicker than the so-called shark experts of that day. The experts of that day were just clueless. Whites range throughout New England, albeit in small numbers, but they are definitely on the increase. The northernmost East Coast shark episode resulting in a death was up in northeast Nova Scotia, near Fourchu, Cape Breton Island. It happened July 9, 1953. A shark estimated to be about 12 feet long, knocked lobstermen John MacLeod and John Burns overboard; and put a hole in their dory, and then swam away. John MacLeod survived by clinging to the swamped dory. John Burns drowned while trying to swim to shore. A tooth fragment imbedded in the dory planking identified the shark as a white, Carcharodon carcharias. 1700s fatal shark attack, Boston Harbor I thank Charles Stockler for e- mailing me info on this attack. This attack in the 1700s pre-dates the founding of our country. A fatal attraction in the 1700s. Here is the basic story: In Boston there was and still is, a well know family, the Shattucks. Rebecca Shattuck married Alexander Sampson around the year 1724, when she was not quite 14 years of age-he was as best I can determine about 24 years old. They had 3 children, the last one being born Feb., 28, 1731 so this attack would have occured in 1730 at the earliest. (Any Genealogists out there care to give me some input.) Excerpt: From the (Memorials of The Descendants of William Shatttuck; Lemuel Shattuck; Dutton and Wentworth, Boston, 1855. Page 106) "Mr. Sampson is said to have been a reputable gentleman from London, who had visited this country for the benefit of his health, with an intention of a speedy return; but meeting with the beautiful Miss Shattuck, her attractions were too irresistible to allow him to carry out his purpose. He married and remained here; but while upon a pleasure excursion in Boston harbor, his boat was attacked by a shark, and he was tipped overboard and devoured." If this happened as stated, the suspect would be a white shark. The Boston area is white shark territory. Whites also have a history of attacking small boats. |
I pieced this story together based on the articles from the 1830 newspapers: the Boston Gazette-Essex Register - Salem Gazette- Lynn Record - Eastern Argus- and the Baltimore (Md.) Patriot. In 1830 the people were living a very basic lifestyle. There was no electricity, no automobiles, and not much machinery to make life easier. These were the horse and wagon days, the days of wooden ships and iron men. The story On Monday, July 12, 1830, Capt. Nathaniel Blanchard, his father in law Mr. Joseph Blaney, a Mr. Stone and Mr. Proctor, sailed the schooner Finback from the Swampscott section of Lynn, Massachusetts and anchored 5 miles east of Scituate. (Swampscott is north of Boston and Scituate is south of Boston, a sail of about 20 miles.) Mr. Blaney, age 52, took a small dory and rowed away from the schooner about a half-mile. After a few hours went by, Mr. Blaney was heard shouting for help and was seen waving his hat - and apparently one of his arms was injured. Another fishing schooner, which was closer to Blaney dispatched a boat to help him. While they were rowing toward Blaney, they saw a large fish lying across his dory amidships. The fish ended up back in the water. Blaney's dory was still afloat, and Blaney was still onboard. So far, so good, but that would be short lived. Essex Register, July 15, 1830-“But before the boat which went to his assistance had reached him, the shark renewed his attack, the boat instantly disappeared, and the water appeared in a foam. Nothing more was seen of Mr. Blaney, but the boat reappeared, and was picked up, together with his hat...” “ The boat was uninjured excepting that her thole pins (oar locks) were all broken, and there were scratches about her, as if made by the rough skin of a shark. There was no doubt amongst the crews of the two vessels who witnessed the whole scene, that Mr. Blaney was destroyed by the shark. “ ----------------------------------- Can you imagine the human emotions, when Captain Blanchard returns to Swampscott with Mr. Blaney’s hat, and tells his wife Alice, about her father’s death-and no body available for burial. Talk about a bad day of fishing. |
The 1830 shark attack story The next fatal attack in 1830 is quite a saga; and is material for a Hollywood movie. |
But this story is not over. A few days later, Capt. Blanchard and at least one of Blaney’s sons, returns to the area where Mr. Blaney was killed. If the shark is still there, they want to catch it. Amazingly Capt. Blanchard and crew encounter 2 white sharks. They told the newspapers that they used a half-inch rope, and a hook with mackerel and other fish, to bait the sharks. They caught one of the two sharks and managed to get it onboard the schooner; probably by using a block and tackle to hoist it onboard. They weren’t prepared for the second shark, which was much larger. They baited the second shark that was estimated by them to be about 16 feet long. After the shark was brought alongside, they realized it couldn’t be lifted onboard. That size white would weigh about 2,500 - 3000 lbs. They killed the shark, and cut it loose. The shark they managed to get onboard was brought back to Swampscott; it ended up on exhibition in Boston for a 12-1/2 cent admission fee. Boston Gazette 1830- “Sharks! A basking shark. (called by some a man eater) is now on exhibition”................. “The shark now exhibited has two rows of sharp serrated teeth in the lower jaw and one row in the upper jaw. Its mouth is large enough to take in a common sized man-its skin dark and rough as a rasp.” The fishermen and newspapers in 1830 called white sharks as "man - eaters" or "basking sharks" Basking shark was probably a generalization of any large shark they saw cruising on the surface. I thank Mark Parkinson for alerting me to this fatal 1830 attack which took place in Mass Bay, 5 miles east of Scituate. Brian Best from the Swampscott Historical Commission supplied me with a tremendous amount of information. Jackie from the Antiquarian society helped me finalize the date of the attack to Monday, July 12, 1830. - Tom |
Rhode Island July 11, 1895- Noyes Point A group of railroad engineers were having their annual fishing trip outing. They went out on the steam yacht Helen May Butler. At 5 AM several small skiffs were launched for fishing. Charles Beattie, age 26, and Andrew Taft were in one of the skiffs. Charles Beattie dove overboard for a swim but was seen to be in distress when he was on the surface. Taft threw him an oar and dove overboard to assist Beattie. Taft tried to pull Beattie back to the skiff but something had a hold of Beattie and pulled him under. Because there had been previous shark activity in that area-a 400 lb shark taken a few days earlier at Sabin's Point- many felt it was a shark that pulled Beattie under. (I would appreciate any more info on this event if you have it. - tom) I thank Christopher Moore from England for info on this event. |
Boston Mass. |
Sources for the 1936 Joseph Troy Jr. attack at Mattapoisett: American Midland Naturalist, E.W.Gudger- Nov.1950, and from the following 1936 newspapers: Wareham Courier July 31, - Boston Sunday Herald July 26 - Boston Sunday Globe July 26 - Boston Sunday Post July 26 - Dorchester Beacon Aug. 1 - Boston Sunday Advertiser July 26 and the N.Y.Times July 26. Also I thank the anonymous source that sent me very detailed information. |
Joseph Troy Jr. of Dorchester Mass. age, 16, July 25, 1936 Attacked at Hollywood Beach, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts |
I thank the people at the libraries in Scituate, Mass. (Susan Frankel), Quincy, Mass. (Linda Beeler) and Boston Mass. (Henry Scannell) for their help in getting me the 1936 newspaper accounts' |
The story of Joseph Troy Jr. The last fatal shark attack in New England. I thank Don Cuddy of the Standard Times, for putting me in contact with Martin Smith of Mattapoisett, at that time a 13 yr older and an eye witness to the events of that day. Martin was a summer neighbor of the Troys. Thanks Martin for giving me detailed information on the attack . - An attitude of “shark attacks can’t happen up here” would have been prevalent along the beaches of New England in 1936. Hardly anyone would have known about the 1830 attack on Mr. Blaney in Massachusetts Bay. For that matter most people wouldn’t have knowledge of the fatal July, 1916 shark attacks in New Jersey either. Many people didn't learn about the 1916 fatal attacks in New Jersey until after the movie "JAWs" came out in 1975, and made the public shark conscious. In 1936 Joseph Troy Jr. age 16, was living in the Dorchester section of Boston, on Talbot Ave.. He went to visit his uncle Fred, who had a summer home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts on Euclid Ave. at Hollywood beach. On July 25th Troy and Walter Stiles, a friend of Troy’s uncle, were swimming"a baseball throw distance" off the end of the pier off Grand Ave. when the attack occured. (The newspaper accounts spell Walter’s last name as, S-t-y-l-e-s. Dr. Hugh M. Smith former Director of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries who investigated this 1936 shark attack, uses S-t-i-l-e-s in his investigative report.) Between 3 - 4 PM, Stiles saw a shark suddenly appear next to Troy. The shark grabbed Troy by the left leg and pulled him underwater. Stiles was about 10 feet away and went to Troys assistance; diving down to try to help him. Ultimately he was able to get hold of Troy when the unconscious boy surfaced in a pool of blood. (Coincidentally at the same time of day on July 30, 2012 a similar non-fatal attack by a white shark took place at Ballston Beach , Truro on Cape Cod.) Stiles started towing Troy to shore while shouting for help. It appeared at first that people thought it was a hoax. Then they realized something was wrong, and thinking it was a possible drowning they telephoned for a local doctor. A shark attack is the last thing any bystander would expect to have happened. The words "shark attack" wouldn't be in anyone's vocablary in 1936. Mr. Herbert Fisher, who had just came in from sailing, responded to Stiles cries for help, and rowed over to assist him. Fisher helped Stiles in getting Troy into the boat, and rowed them to shore. Troy was place on a door and carried up to a car. Dr. Irving Tilden rushed Troy to St. Lukes Hospital in New Bedford, about 12 miles away. The femoral artery had not been severed, but Troy’s left leg was mangled, and a piece of the leg "about the size of a 5 lb. roast beef was missing". A surgeon had finished amputating Troy’s leg; when Joseph’s condition worsened. Joseph passed away about 8:30 PM that evening. Since this attack happened on the south west side of Cape Cod, the usual suspects would be a white, or possibly, but not likely, a tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, or a mako, Isurus oxyrinchus. Fisher, who rowed over to help, and Stiles,who was swimming with Joseph Troy got a good close-up look at the shark, which remained just a few yards away from them in the bloody water. Their descriptive testimony to Dr. Hugh Smith, who investigated the attack, would determine the size, and the attacking specie. Walter Stiles and Herbert Fisher both told Dr. Hugh Smith that the shark was about 10-12 feet long. That established the sharks length . Stiles said the white sides abruptly changed to the top color, and the shark had an almost symmetrical tail. Both of those observations are characteristics of a white shark, and not characteristics of a tiger shark. Dr. Irving Tilden who drove Troy to the hospital, testified that the victims “skin edges were serrated as if cut off by a toothed object.” A mako's teeth are smooth edged teeth, and a white sharks teeth are serrated.. Dr. Hugh M. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, who did the investigation into Troy's death, concluded the shark involved was: "a man-eater (Carcharodon carcharias)” From [Bigelow and Schroeder, 1948 p. 134.] - A fatal attack on a swimmer at Mattapoisett, on Buzzards Bay, on July 25, 1936, may also have been by a man-eater, though in this case the shark was driven away without being identified. What Bigelow and Schroeder did not know in 1948, when they wrote the above, was that the attack on Joseph Troy had been investigated in 1936 by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Dr Smith did the investigation at the request of E.W.Gudger-who was working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Dr. Smith gave his report to E.W Gudger in 1936, and concluded it was done by a man-eater (white shark), but the report gathered dust until it was published by E.W.Gudger in the American Midland Naturalist, - Nov.1950, after Bigelow and Schroeder had written their book. ~~~~~ Today, EMTs are quickly on the scene- especially with prompt cell phone calls being made from the location asking for help. If that shark attack on Joseph Troy Jr. happened today, I believe he would have survived; mainly because his femoral artery in the mangled leg was not severed. |
Should we be concerned about shark attacks? There are several shark species that impact on us psychologically when we enter the sea. Thoughts of shark attack start creeping into the sub consciousness of many people as the water rises above their knees. The movie JAWS and newspaper accounts of sensational shark attacks have heightened this awareness. There are about a dozen shark species consistently involved in attacks on people. There is no doubt about the top three leaders in that field. This trio have well established and documented track records of interacting with people. Interacting is a euphemism for causing nasty and sometimes fatal encounters. Those bad boys are: the bull, Carcharhinus leucas, the tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier, and white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. The bull, a.k.a. Zambezi shark, Lake Nicaragua shark, River shark, cub shark, is a very unusual shark since it swims hundreds of miles up freshwater rivers and can actually live in fresh water- as it does in Lake Nicaragua. Bulls reach 700 lbs. and grow over 10 feet in length. The bull appears to be the most aggressive of this trio in attacks on people. New England is not considered to be in the range of the bull shark. There are people in southern New England who have claimed to have caught bull sharks. The photos of those catches indicate the shark is a dusky and not a bull. (If you have provable contradictory info please contact me.) The tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier is another large shark, weighing up to 1,800 lbs. and exceeding 16 feet in length. This shark seems to be willing to sample anything that gets within range of its teeth. This was the best known shark until the movie JAWS. Tigers are in the waters south of Martha's Vineyard. The white, Carcharodon carcharias, a.k.a. great white, white pointer, man-eater, is a shark that can reach 21 feet in length, and weigh over 6,000 pounds. Most of the larger whites observed around the world are in the 16- 18 foot range. All of New England and up into Canada is their normal range. |
Fatal shark attacks are few and far between in New England – actually centuries apart. Statistically we are at the end of a far-between period. In other words, we’re due. That doesn’t mean it will happen, but if it does; we shouldn’t be surprised. Although none of the fatal attacks mentioned above involved seals, there have been many white shark attacks on people around the world, where seals and seal colonies were a factor. Seals are becoming a factor here in New England, especially on Cape Cod, where the seal population has greatly increased. |
Since white sharks do kill and eat seals, and we are about the same size as a seal; if you are in the water with the seals, or near them, bad things can happen – bad things have happened, and will continue to happen. Let’s face it. Sharks happen! In 1997 the white shark became a prohibited species to help increase their depleted numbers. They are making a comeback, so expect more whites in the New England area. After all they belong here, this is their territory, and their territory begins when the salt water gets above your knees. - Tom |
Plymouth Mass. February 1938 Excerpt from the book; Codfish, Dogfish, Mermaids and Frank. by Skip DeBrusk When asked "What's the biggest shark you have ever seen?" Eddie Fairweather on the left responds. "A twelve hundred pound white," Eddie said. "When I was on the gill netter Geraldine and Phyllis . February 1938, one of the coldest days of the winter ,we were four miles east of the Gurnet and this crazy damn shark got all tangled up in our gear, God what a mess!"---------------------------- Notice the cold weather clothing worn by the people on the pier. Remember whites aren't just warm water sharks. They have a temperature range that is wider than most other sharks. -------------------------------- On Saturday December 18, 2010, an enormous white shark was brought up in a gill-net off Chatham, north of Coast Guard beach. In December of 2009 a seal was bitten by a white in Cape Cod Bay. The seal made it to shore and was photographed with the identifyable white shark bite wounds. |
The last fatal shark attack in New England happened on July 25, 1936 at Hollywood Beach , Mattapoisett Mass., off the end of Grand Ave. The fatal attack on Joseph Troy, age 16, occurred "a baseball throw off the end of the pier" shown in this photo. - tom Photo by George Haley 2/22/2012 |
Boston Mass. |
Ballston Beach Attack 7/30/12 |
TRURO, MASS. SHARK ATTACK On July 30, 2012, around 3:30 PM, a white shark bit the feet and leg of a swimmer/body surfer, at Ballston Beach Truro Mass. The beach is on the ocean side of Cape Cod. Truro is the next town to Provincetown. Chris Myers, was attacked around 3:30 PM while swimming with his 16-year-old son, J.J., off the shores of Ballston Beach in Truro. It was a non-fatal attack almost assuredly done by a white shark. -Tom |
Blaney attacked off Scituate |
Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo, is another book on the 1916 shark attacks in New Jersey. This book also chronicles that period of time, the shark attacks, and is also a good read. Speaking of close to shore, Will S. Osier, flying with spotter pilot George Breen took this photo below of a white shark swimming close to shore during the tagging operation at Chatham, Mass. The beachgoers can't really see the white shark because of their angle of view and the natural glare on the surface of the water. |
white shark range in red |
Will S. Osier |
Troy attacked |