Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1879 — What a Shark Swallowed. [ARTICLE]

What a Shark Swallowed.

The following letter, written by one of the officers on the British bark Lutterworth, has been handed us with the request to publish it: “ While the Lutterworth was laying becalmed in the tropics, a large shark was observed swimming around the ship. A large hook with a chain attached was baited with a foui-pound piece of pork. The shark made for it and bolted it. In hauling him up the chain parted, and he coolly swallowed the hook, chain and pork. Another hook was then baited, which he instantly seized, biting a three-inch rope in twain and also swallowing it with another four-pound piece of pork. Another hook was then baited with a similar piece of pork, and with this the shark was caught and landed on our main deck. All hands cleared from him, for he was in a terrible flutter. His tail was cut off with the carpenter’s ax, which quieted him a little. Some said it was not the same shark we had hooked before. He was cut open, when we found the two large sharkhooks and chain and rope snugly coiled away, with eight pounds of pork, in his locker. It seems almost incredible, but 'all hands are witnesses to it.”—Portland Oregonian. The Maine Beet-Sugar Company at Portland have decided to increase their capital for another year. Farmers in the vicinity are going into beet-raising more extensively, and the industry promises to become esteblisW