1961-12-02 — Page 14

PHILIPS 7) PHILIPS KO

PHILIPS

light as day

GILMANS

PHILIPS LIGHTING DEPT.

HONGKONG COUNCIL

OF SOCIAL SERVICE

of

To co-ordmate the vellvities voluntary welfare organisations, and to promote the knowledge And practice of social welfare work.

piled

sip-

Information will be gladiy

by the Roo/n $7, th Hoor Des Voeur Road, Trl 21708.

Secretary Office. David House

"WHA

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1961.

DIVING FOR PLEASURE

CHASING SHARKS

(3)

BY CLAY BLAIR,

JUN

turbed by the appearance of these fish, en 1 fought down my panic and stared at thein trans- ixed.

Fear

The barracuda is a disagree- able and formidable-looking fish. It is long and slim and It has an ugly mouth, crowded with razor-sharp teeth. Unlike most species of Ash, it is unusually Ingulsitive and seemingly quite

hold. ists bad experienced slight

WHAT about sharks?" I asked Marx as we water is so clear, in fact, that

pondered where we should search for Mars told us many of his tour

vertigo when submerged.

treasure.

"They're all over the place down here," Marx said. "But they don't bother you. All that stuff you read in treasure books is a lot of baloney. You've never heard of a serious diver complain- ing of sharks."

what

"Bat

about those hunting routine. He had landed pictures I havt scen an the many big ones, including a 16- papers

bitten hy foot hammerhead shark, with no Sharks"

physiest damage to himself.

انا

isually that happens in plane vrasher, or when ships arc for-

Men 21rt!

are wanderi

thrashed in the water; blood is all Aer ta plave Mostly it hap- ut at sea where hig shark roam. and wher

can't find much to est Sharks Ere scavengers They orey UR wounded fish and men But if you're alive, unwounded. and under control, don't worry "

Routine

My utter scepticism must have shown through my smile

Marx said "All right, dar mit. I prove it to you We'l go shark hunting right betu while they get the boat ready for the trip to the mailare

From the pictures he showed us und previous accounts Enew that Marx considered shark

Nevertheless. I slept fitfulty that night I was still uneasy the next morning, sailing north when we gol underway early along the lee shore of Crzamel

After an hour's cruise we an- chored near a promising rrei. We donned on lace plates and flippers and readied our spear- gun Marx chose a single rubber arbalet ordinarily used to shoni fish of 15

or less.

was startled

you going to shoot shark with that

pup gub 1 asked To me, it was compar- able to setting out on an ele- plant hunt with a .22 rifle

Without an aqualung and a powerful gun it is more sport- Ing. Marx replied.

Space

world-famous diver who deve

Capt. J. Y. Cousteau, the

loped the aqualung, had similar reaction in the Salvage Islands between Madelra and the Canaries.

He described it in his book "The Silent World:" "We ex- changed glances and cautiously put our eyes under again, hold- saw the bottom a hundred lug on

10 the ship," he wrote

feet down in naked detail.

Our group, for example, had closed to only several feet tange. All of them were hanging dead still in the water staring wide- eyed directly at us, opening and closing their fearsome mouths They looked like in a menacing, rhythmic motion.

a group

of

hoodlums.

Will barracuda horm a skin diver? Definitely not. Usually we were surrounded by scores of barracuda while diving at Cozumel. We were never at-

threatened. In fact, every time tacked by a barracuda or even

we swam towards one it would scoot away in fear.

In talks with many Caribbean and Florida divers, I have yet

The author, Clay Blair, Jun., and a leading skin-diver, Robert Marx, having given up their quest for the sunken "Yankee Cheesebox," the Monitor, turn their attention to sunken treasure-and sharks. In this chapter the author describes his underwater experiences with barra- cuda and sharks near Cözumel on the desolate Yucatan coast.

Too late! Cappy had moved it far beyond reach:

I recalled that the previous evening Marx had said: "If you're underwater and you swim toward a

a shark, he'll run from you."

Uwity

In retrospect it seems insane but that is exactly what I did. When the shark was about 10 feet away and swimming direct- ly toward me, I took a deep breath and went under-down to about five or six feet--and

How I have relived that scene

Morx grabs a live shark by the toll.

I looked underwater toward Bennett. He shook his head slowly as if to indicate Marx had lost all his senses, I shared this feeling.

Seconds later, we were aware of tremendous condict within the cave. Sand and tiny bits of coral ......................................................*****i swam directly toward him.

were expelled

from the mang holes and crevices on top and "There seemed no water be- to hear of an attack on a diver. Even so, he was a big shark in my mind! Every detail of It

soon Marx emerged slowly low 15. There were no motes of There is a widespread belief Marx estimated his length as 10

is indelibly engraved in my carrying his empty speargun. He One's first dive into the clea

the dull, hound-dog had fred at the shark inside the animals. plants or minerals in that barracuda may attack feet.

memory. We think he was a liger

of teeth, and the mouthful waters of the Caribbean

ihat is a

space It was

distilled bathers. particularly those wear- shark, but we are not certain the massive white belly. breathtaking

experience. The water, not the benign speck- ing shiny objects. Such attacks because there are

crammed element we called clear may

As I swam for him. I murky species of shark and they are neither praying nor getting set occurred water, in which exceptional vist- waters when the barracuda did not easy to identify. He was

for certain death, as I suppose bility embraced an ares no big- not know that his victim was a definitely not sund shark should have been, but rather ger than a concert hall. We saw human or when a bather foolish which is tan or light brown, or observing it all with a sort of a horrible bright landscape. 1 dangled a hand or leg in the a nurse shark, whose configura- uneasy detachment.

water from a moving boat. tlons are well known.

Hong Kong.

Robert Marx with a sting ray he speared off Cozumel.

"If we let go our handholds, we thought we would plummet through empty space and crash on the malign rocks that ranged iar across the floor."

Football

have

In all probablity, attacks on bathers by sharks have in many Instances

been incorrectly de- signated barracuda attacks.

a

scores Đ{

cyes,

cave!

Then

the shark .emerged was through

opposite side of the reef, trailing..

the 4 "back door" où

two white lines. At that same instant a huge jewish, apparent- ly ejected from his home by the

excitement swam out of 'ariother Es in the coral.

The affair at that instant re- Marx cocked his gun and minded me of the teenage The shark had momentarily swam until he was directly over the shark. Bennett, holding an teenagers drive cars down the enormous tank-like jewish; as it game of "chicken," in which two come to rest, so I watched the underwater camera, moved in road directly at each other lumbered by. It was fet god ugi close to get a picture.

I hung According to the rules of this and estimated to weigh 300lb. back near the dinghy watching macabre game, the teenager who Suddenly, I saw Marx wave

Not many minutes later, Marse breathing underwater, his long

hard veers out of the way first is waved us to a stop He pointed arm underwater and

"chicken.

toward the sandy bottom. I point toward a mushroom-shaped rough my snorkel.

Marx บ coral head. Then he removed

jackknifed and headed

see nothing at first. We took no accurate mea-

for the bottom with his spear surement, but I am dead certain shouted to Cappy,

his snorkel

and arm held mouthpiere

straight out. When that we could see almost the

our Maya

the tip of his spear was within length of a football fleid in all skipper who had been trailing about one foot of the shark's us in the dinghy. Cappy rowed head, Marx stopped and lined rapidly to Marx, who said in himself up more carefully. Spanish, "Tiburon, Tiburon,"

The shark was apparently which is Spanish for "shark."

asleep although there is no way of being certain because sharks have no eyelids.

directions.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marx jackknife and head for the bottom, his right arm and the speargun held out straight as an arrow, A, large silvery pompano swam into his line of sight.

Monster

Chickened

As I peered intently. Tade out the cutline of a huge sting ray buried in the sand. As y

five feel from me, the shart ment, a whip-like tail with a When he was not more than well known, the sting ray is equipped with defensive arma- He veered away sharp barb near the base.

"chickened."

sharply and went back down again.

Many bathers have felt the bite of this barb when they ac cidentally stepped on a ray. But un tay has been known to at- tack man deliberately.

Berserk

But

1 came up for a breath of air, Aiming for the brain on top then went under again, thinking of the shark's head, Marx let --needlessly as it turned out his

Some skin divers have grabbed-- spear go. Zingo! The shark, that it would be better to pre- The very word literally sent the coral, the sand, and my sent this wounded shark my full the eye sockets of huge sting rays Marx kicked gently with his chills up and down my spine. I nerves simultaneously erupted body rather than two dangling and have been taken on wild flipper to close the range. The held to the gunwale of

rides through the deep. the with wild frenzy. While I stared

legs. pompano moved toward the reef dinghy-prepared to leap on in horrified fascination, the

I saw then that he had shaken Marx veered and skilfully placed board-and looked underwater shark bent the spear into the

loose the second spear and was himself between the reef and toward the coral. There was, shape o_a pretzel, shook fish (always the best strategy about thirty feet down, an im- loose, and then started swim

it swimming off in the grey, dim distance. Marx was alongside it can be applied, he said later) mense hulk of slate-gray ming round and round the 15-

the dinghy loading still another. and s-w-o-o-h, his spear left stretched on

We had already speared three the sand, partly foot coral head.

spear.

And then we were off, rays the largest of which the gun and impaled the pom- sheltered by the coral

swimming after the shark welglied about 150 pounds. Marx, out of wind and spears, Mark was determined to land this one was obviously good ple My heart pounded wildly as

swam to the surface alongside him. It struggled

ture material, so Bennett once briefly while I watched Marx tie a white line loaded his gun with a new spear lurking under another coral while Marx readied, the un

the dinghy. Quickly Cappy Te Marx

We

him again, again got the camera soon found hauled in

ready on the re to his spear. The other end of In less than trleving line and then grasped the line was

minute, Mary had the Ash by its eye sockets. With dinghy.

attached to the recock the

gun and was head. Even from

town Marx went, aiming Il Marx successfully heading down again after his the two holes in the top of his

twenty feet or so, I could see for the fish

the well in hand, Marx harpooned the shark, he would w

wounded giant, kicked hard

Mark circled

beast shaped

I could hear the for the surface, lel 80 of the gun and the shark around the coral head in hot clean, like bullet holes in a piece spear as it left the

head. They were neat and sharp high-pitched rattle of the He had been down at least two would pull Cappy around in the pursuit but he could not catch of steel. Blood was pouring out fieve the spear must have struck I be his own breath. dinghy until it became exhaust- up with the shark.

gus. Bennett and I marvelled at his ed. Even with his endurance

So, like

of fo

Кове a child playling

of the holes When he the rav skill.

and wind Marx could not hope around a big tree, Marx, doubled saw us, the sha

immediately went to land a shark that size alone.

Then, to my growing concern... back in the opposite direction

berserk and began career- sharks appeared, One mors two and met the shark coming head

one, ing around in every direction. I Bang! Another

eight feet long, the

ray whatso-

pano.

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39

on

Just then, we were surround- ed by half a dozen barracuda,

A barracuda, glimpsed for the

first time underwater, is a terri

was.

about

A range of Then tre of this valentin

Bway!quarely in the brain

spear other, a baby, about four feet no fear of the

I took another look at the on. monster. After a careful study, whanged into the shark's head.

I estimated his size at 16 feet. This time the shark could not The Lemall one was flying wing to move in with my gun

give Marx a hand. fying sight. When they hoye in Later, I discovered I had been shake it loose. He swam away Arst, coming in from the BCR ly to get into a position that on the big one... 1 saw them. Bennett was struggling valiant. view, my initial impulse was to deceived by the inevitable from his coral refuge.

They swam to

sure

toward

get out of the water-fast. I am underwater magnification (view- Up to that point, as far as I

me, rising would put both Mark and the ray would have done so if I ed through a face plate, every- was concerned, everything had close to the surface, uten arching in the same picture frame but bad been alone. But neither thing seems larger and closer been going more or less smooth-back down Marx nor Bennett seemed dis- than it really is).

Jy.

.BY. THE .

THE WAY

•

The

by Beachcomber

..

Near-panic

they had

faint. T

I was

sharks

pyne was hopeless.AND

felt

that the new

But now the shark, in its slow, up. If Marx had been alone and madivars and me, thrashing-

joined Marx on the surface new of the water. At that time the Conte to eat ray was flopping around in wide the wounded, and that would circles at the end of the line. be mistaken for shark steak. I fapping its wings like some huge wished very much that I could bird Marx took a bight on the eerle scene I have get out of the water. But Marx line with the completion of each described had been falcing place pressed on after the first wound- circle. below me in slow-motion ed shark, while the others swam I was trying to get into shoot- (everything seems to move in around us.

ing position when, suddenly, the XPERIMENTS at the Uni- with three-course meals, Such slow-motion underwater) as if He put another spear into the ray zoomed directly up towards

versity of Wisconsin have foolery would demoralise the

in a kind of, faraway land.

shark and lost that one. After us and crashed to the surface. led to the discovery that baby other horses.

between two hours of chasing we gave monkeys "show better results"

Cooklecarrot: Were they sup- ponderous marioeuvres, began bhd persisted, I am sure he could when left with their mothers pused to eat their oats with a gaining altitude. That meant he have landed the shark. He does by one of the

I was temporarily smothered than when transferred to knife and fork, off a plate?

massive, slimy was coming closer to mechanical mothers made, öf Googoboote: Or to eat their dangling feet Momentarily he get away, It's part of the code ping tall missed us both, Then my not like to let a wounded fish wings, but the dangerous whip- chicken wire, cloth, and bits up, meat and pudding out veered directly toward Bennett, of the sea. of machinery.

cil at once, the ray died: He of a manger or a, nösebag“ who looked ridiculous trying to This will discourage the ex- Oh, I say, look here! balance himself underwater and

sank and trung motionless at the

periments with

end of the white bine directly an electronte

SMALL party of bird-shark.

focus his bulky camera on the mother brain, which would take watchers who sat study As the shark approached I

Mork down charge of children: soon after in, Trafalgar Square their birth and bring them up the pigeons were well, carried saw Bennell back away in order ordinary scene. Another shark in such a brief period we could scientifically, thus releasing off by the police, charged with to get the whole fish in the pin which Marx had been hunting, have grappled with such a great more women for the factores breach of the peace of the tre frame. The spear was still in a desperate attempt to get variety of sea monstro Two men, or a horse?

ja sticking up out of the shark's

coral For Lipton's Parachute Lost head like an automobile radio away, disappeared Into

Cave

For Marx, accustomed by then BE TINKLEBUÍ

antenna. SNAMERICANS,"

Benriett and I kept an eye on to the Incredible Raindance of Bays a writer, Suddenly, the shark changed the cave, and then nointed to it

$CA life for the defence. A "go-ahead though they course again and leaded for when Mary was ready to go bid been routine.

on Cozumela, regíz, it minidibed het, since nobody be, have a real reverence forwards me. I remember thiols under again (This was un

Actually reality belluvetlan that

sald,” “I've had much

better Lumps and Bobalt

were the bust. Some years ago and I hope he does, not think rectiepry, cause the white line days. And there have been ferr

W shown Malton's we have him boxed in and that from the dinghy fo real hors to a

My to the spear daya that I sat out to land Ston Giles, he Mr. Edwal almost over de sexthrough my area,

les. he must fight his way out. I'll the sharky All clearly pointed! shark and falled.", w for mottok I had no

*** feeling that we were

Bat onts WAR Honeyweather

the prosecution," said

selygs for what

emerlinit from

had albota

realm.

to

Extraordinary beneath

Later, Bennett and I recalled that We now witnessed an extra ment. It seemed impossible that day on the reef with amaze-

WETOR & ANTARA CARTEA with | gladly etap dalde vând tot him the way, but it feest we had the NBU SABERG

tha

Imer cans Mount 20thuch of but he was coming wings!

Marx awam, swiftly down had no approaching the cave which wok Aloe said the pit. At that moment "Thought you and put it was in the, opat, what, nimest on the star ocean bots

Ser to do in thash of meer panic tum Ehe, to ING BACH MEET

→ctondan Express Bereter); | water to search for it, althy.

he entered the cave and dim peared frontalaht

NEXT WEEK:

Treasure from

galleon