Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1875 — A Diver’s Adventure With a Shark. [ARTICLE]

A Diver’s Adventure With a Shark.

41 On Deck” hod led an eventful life. “A sailor in youth, a diver in manhood and a “ne'er-do-well” in old age, he saw more than falls to the lot of most men. He came to California in early times, and was the hero of a shark story, remarkable as the only one having truth for foundation native to our harbor born. In 1851 James Carton, a stevedore, while warping ! the ship Genesee to a berth off Market street wharf, lost an aqthor. f* On Deck” was

the only diver, except Bill Matthews, then known in the city, and was sent for to recover the anchor. “ On Deck" complied, and while so engaged noticed a shark hovering a few feet above him, evidently observing his movements. The fish was at least eighteen feet long, and was known as the “ bottlenose,” one of the most voracious of the shark kind. This discovery: naturally alarmed the diver. He had found the anchor, made a cable fast to it and was about ascending, when the appearance of the shark made him pause. He had heard that sharks did not molest men in armor. He doubted this and did not feel, now, like risking the experiment. He moved a few paces from the anchor—the shark moved too. He returned to his former place—the shark followed. He was evidently, to use his own words, “ spotted by the bottle-nose for a supper,” ana, unless signally favored, would fall a victim to its voracity. He hardly knew how to act, when he thought of the cuttlefish—how that singular creature often escapes its enemies by darkening the waters with an inky liquor ejected from its body. He accordingly stirred up the mud at the bottom till the water was darkened arbund him, cast off his weights and signaled to the man to haul him up. He was hauled up immediately, but did not entirely escape. The shark knapped at him as he ascended and three of his toes were taken off. A little more and his foot would have gone, a stout boot only saving it The happy thought of muddying the water saved his life. —San Francisco Ledger.