I was telling a friend about sailing on Raritan Bay. She looked a little concerned. "Why?" I inquired. "Well", she informed me, "A Great White, swam into the Bay and up the river one day."
Apparently, it munched its way through several residents of New Jersey". "Eek" says I, although in a more manly way. "When pray was this?". "Oh, in 1916." my friend said.
OK, so it’s a not exactly Bondi Beach-like in its frequency but a good tale all the same. Here’s the story:
New Jersey Man Eater Story of 1916
Nearly 60 years before Peter Benchley’s novel
"Jaws," a real man-eater lurked the waters of the New Jersey coast. It
was July 11th, 1916, and in Beach Haven the tourist season was in full
swing. The beaches were filled with sunbathers and the ocean with
swimmers. Everything seemed like just another hot July day. But this
day would be different from any other. A young Penn graduate named
Charles E. Vansant, a resident of Beach Haven, died after having been
attacked by a shark while out swimming. A lifeguard pulled him in and
tried to stop the profuse bleeding, but Charles could not be saved.
Scientists of the area wrote this off as a singular freak occurrence.
They could not have been more wrong.
Five days
later the shark would strike again, 45 miles to the north, near the
Essex and Sussex Hotel in Spring Lake. Bellboy Charles Bruder would
become the second fatality. He was swimming out beyond friends when he
was heard screaming "A shark bit me! Bit my legs off!" These are the
last words Charles would ever utter. Mesh barriers went up almost
immediately around swimming areas. Still, it was too late to save the
rest of the tourist season. What would happen next would elevate the
panic to a new level.
Thirty miles farther north, residents of Matawan, a small town 11 miles
inland from the open ocean, naturally felt that they were safe from
attacks. Swimmers here were confined to the Matawan creek, a narrow
tidal creek that wound its way to the bay. A retired fishing boat
captain, Thomas Cattrell, was walking home after a successful day of
fishing. When he crossed over Matawan’s new trolley drawbridge he
noticed something that seemed almost impossible: a huge shark was
heading up the inland waterway. He couldn’t believe his eyes, but
confidant that what he saw was very real, Cattrell ran into Matawan to
warn everyone.
Though
the citizens were all aware of the two shark attacks on the coast, no
one could really believe there was any great threat of an attack in a
small body of fresh water. Despite his vigorous pleas, the Captain’s
story was dismissed as a heat induced phantom. Ignoring these warnings
would prove a very grave mistake.
On July 24th a
factory across town was generously letting 11-year-old Lester Stillwell
leave work a little early. After meeting some friends, they went for a
swim in the Matawan Creek. While they splashed and played, Lester told
his two friends, both only a few feet away, to watch him floating on
his back. A moment later he was violently pulled beneath the water. His
friends listened in disbelief to his screams as he bobbed up and down.
Blood filled the water around him as the shark dragged him under again
and again. His friends swam as fast as they could and then ran into
town screaming and crying.
The boys’ impassioned cries for help would not be ignored. 24-year-old
Stanley Fischer sped to the creek with two other men thinking that
Lester may have suffered an epileptic seizure. The two men dove in, not
knowing there was a shark still attacking the boy’s corpse. Stanley
Fischer attempted to pull the bloody body away from the shark and was
also killed, sparking a hysteria that would overtake the small town.
But the NJ man-eater was not yet finished.
Heading back down stream towards the ocean the shark struck again
within one hour of the last attack, wounding 12-year-old Joseph Dunn
who only narrowly escaped with his life, but not without losing a leg.
He would be the 5th and final victim of the marauding fish.
Now the town of Matawan, stunned by the gruesome and unlikely attacks,
was out for revenge. A reward was offered for the shark, and the people
of Matawan became obsessed with vengeance against this evil creature.
Some of the townspeople industriously filled the creek with dynamite,
hoping to blast the shark into oblivion. The dramatic effort proved
unsuccessful.
Back on the coast the greatest shark hunt in the state’s history was
under way. Although no one knew the species, or its size, blind
retribution would be swift. Hundreds of sharks were caught and
slaughtered.
Shortly after the attack Michael Slicher, a coastal fisherman, captured
the man-eater just outside a creek at the Raritan Bay. It was an 8ft.
Great White, and when dissected, 15 lbs. of various human remains were
discovered in its stomach. For many, the grisly discovery brought
closure to the summer’s horrific events.
the attack was july 12, 1916- 2:00-3:00pm behind the old brick factory on dock street–Lester did not scream! I knew Mr. Cartan, a survivor of the attack, he was 14 yrs. old then and was sitting on the dock after he just got out of the water when this happen. He said they thought the shark was a large piece of drift wood till it grabbed Lester–but no screams from him at all- on the other hand, Fisher, had his butt taken off and parts of his legs and bleed to death at the train station or on his way-we can’t seem to get the facts streight on that one– But Mr. Cartan certainly was very descriptive in telling me in his living room his story and what it was like–most interesting, hope this helps- thanks Bob s.
the attack was july 12, 1916- 2:00-3:00pm behind the old brick factory on dock street–Lester did not scream! I knew Mr. Cartan, a survivor of the attack, he was 14 yrs. old then and was sitting on the dock after he just got out of the water when this happen. He said they thought the shark was a large piece of drift wood till it grabbed Lester–but no screams from him at all- on the other hand, Fisher, had his butt taken off and parts of his legs and bleed to death at the train station or on his way-we can’t seem to get the facts streight on that one– But Mr. Cartan certainly was very descriptive in telling me in his living room his story and what it was like–most interesting, hope this helps- thanks Bob s.
They never proved that the remains inside the Raritan White Shark were that of any of the victims. Furthermore, it’s merely a myth that the 8.5′ white was responsible for the attack. White sharks do not swim 11 miles into fresh water. The bull shark, however, does so frequently to have it’s young. Bulls have a special feature in their livers that allow them to adjust to varying salinities in water. One bull was caught in the Missisippi River, as far north as Indiana. It is feasablle that a white attacked Bruder and Vansant, though it was never proven. The “rogue shark” theory that one shark is responsible for a series of attacks has mever been proven either, as sharks are nomadic, and often travel 60 miles of coastline a day.
I have the dvd about it cool very cool