[zbillyofreyc]

DRAGGED to the bottom of the sea, limbs torn off and shipwrecks stalked by sharks – stories of the ocean predators always send a chill down the spine.

[Need2Revolt]

“I lost about as much blood as you can without dying — about 60 per cent.”

[dingus]

“I felt this huge crash and was hurled through the water. I thought a submarine had hit me,” he told Stories of the South.

[bitcoinuser]

Despite the fact Australia has a bad reputation concerning the threat of shark attacks, according to the Australian Shark Attack File there have been only 61 human fatalities in the last 50 years (1.22 per year), which is approximately the same average as Florida. However, it's shark attacks like the one that killed Shirley Ann Durdin in 1985 that has given Australia the reputation as a place where one might want to think twice before getting in the water.

[Organized]

The Shark Research Committee states that there were 108 authenticated shark attacks reported from the Pacific Coast of North America in the twentieth century, with 50 of those attacks directed at divers. In 1984, four shark attacks occurred near Santa Cruz, California, beginning with the violent death of Omar Conger, a 28-year old abalone diver. here

[devondad93]

It's been called The Case of the Jersey Man-Eater, or in later years, The Real New Jersey Jaws. The five shark attacks that occurred along the Jersey Shore over a 10-day period in 1916, during a blistering heat wave that drove millions of people to seaside resorts, created a widespread panic and media maelstrom. The first victim, 25-year old Charles Vansant, was attacked as he took an evening swim. Five days later, Charles Bruder was attacked off the beach at Spring Lake. The final three attacks took place at Matawan Creek, 30 miles north of Spring Lake. Four of the victims died, and the fifth survived with serious injuries. Since 1916, scientists have debated what type of shark was responsible for the attacks, with some believing it was a great white and others a bull shark. [links]

[Comatus]

Fox was defending his Australian spearfishing title when he wrangled with the great white. The shark grabbed him by his torso, but Fox gouged the beast in the eyes and it released him. On the second strike, Fox was able to pull his arm from the shark’s mouth. However, the shark came back again, this time dragging Fox along the ocean floor before finally releasing him. more

[granerica]

Since the attack, Rodney Fox has become one of the foremost authorities on the great white shark. He is credited with designing the first underwater shark observation cage and has been involved in numerous expeditions, documentaries and feature films about the great white, working with scientific researchers from 16 different countries. In 2007, Fox was inducted into the International Scuba Hall of Fame. more

[Vinnie]

According to National Geographic, 2010 was the most dangerous year for shark attacks in a decade, with 79 reported attacks. On average only 60 people are attacked by sharks each year. The world’s most horrific shark attacks have involved maritime disasters in which numerous passengers are left helpless in shark-infested waters miles away from land; for example, in 1943, the Cape San Juan was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine resulting in 825 fatalities, 695 of which are believed to be shark attacks. However, single-victim shark attacks are as equally horrific and gruesome as larges-scale disasters. Despite the fact that a person has a 1 in 11 million chance of being killed by a shark during his or her lifetime, these are 7 of the worst shark attacks ever recorded.

[Traktion]

More than 900 men were thrown to the mercy of the sharks of the Pacific Ocean when their American warship, the USS Indianapolis, was split in two by Japanese torpedoes in July 1945. When rescuers arrived in the spot four days later, they found 579 men dead, with many chewed to pieces by circling sharks. Woody James, among just 316 survivors, said "The sharks were around, hundreds of them. Everything would be quiet and then you'd hear somebody scream and you knew a shark had got him."

[kwukduck]

Shirley Ann Durdin

[btchris]

Brook Watson

[EconomyBuilder]

The USS Indianapolis had delivered the crucial components of the first operational atomic bomb to a naval base on the Pacific island of Tinian. On August 6, 1945, the weapon would level Hiroshima. But now, on July 28, the Indianapolis sailed from Guam, without an escort, to meet the battleship USS Idaho in the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and prepare for an invasion of Japan.

[fisharmor]

The next day was quiet, with the Indianapolis making about 17 knots through swells of five or six feet in the seemingly endless Pacific. As the sun set over the ship, the sailors played cards and read books; some spoke with the ship’s priest, Father Thomas Conway.

[siudit101]

After 11:00 a.m. on their fourth day in the water, a Navy plane flying overhead spotted the Indianapolis survivors and radioed for help. Within hours, another seaplane, manned by Lieutenant Adrian Marks, returned to the scene and dropped rafts and survival supplies. When Marks saw men being attacked by sharks, he disobeyed orders and landed in the infested waters, and then began taxiing his plane to help the wounded and stragglers, who were at the greatest risk. A little after midnight, the USS Doyle arrived on the scene and helped to pull the last survivors from the water. Of the Indianapolis’ original 1,196-man crew, only 317 remained. Estimates of the number who died from shark attacks range from a few dozen to almost 150. It’s impossible to be sure. But either way, the ordeal of the Indianapolis survivors remains the worst maritime disaster in U.S. naval history.