Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel, jawsIt’s a pop culture classic. Almost everyone remembers seeing the overly anxious marine biologist, the water-suspicious police chief, and the veteran fisherman of questionable sanity, as they hunted down the rogue great white shark responsible for a bloody reign of terror in the waters of the resort beach. Amity Island community. Many of us cannot dive into the ocean without hearing the unforgettable “shark theme song from Jaws”. What many don’t know is that Benchley was inspired by a 12-day period in the summer of 1916 along the New Jersey shore, during which 5 shark attacks occurred (4 of them fatal). These attacks changed the perception of sharks in the United States and generated much controversy among scientists.
In addition to the sweltering heat that summer, the northeastern US was in the midst of a polio epidemic. Many people flocked to the spas and summer houses. At the time, shark attacks were not even a remote concern; many scientists did not even believe that a shark was capable of killing or seriously injuring a human.
On July 1, 25-year-old Charles VanSant was swimming in the ocean at a hotel in the resort town of Beach Haven when he was severely bitten on the legs by a shark. He was rescued by a lifeguard, who claimed that the “big shark” followed them to shore. He promptly bled to death at the hotel.
Several days later, on July 6, there was another attack off the shore of Spring Lake (45 miles north of Beach Haven). Charles Bruder, a 27-year-old Swiss employee of a seaside hotel, was bitten so hard that his legs were amputated. Like VanSant, lifeguards carried him to shore, but he had died from massive blood loss before they reached dry land.
These first two attacks, while disturbing, were not conclusively attributed to sharks. Additional theories abounded among locals, such as overly aggressive sea turtles or German submarines.
The other three attacks occurred on July 12 at Matewan Creek, 30 miles north (and 16 miles inland) of Spring Lake. A creek would seem like a very unlikely place for ONE shark attack, much less three in one day. Earlier that day in Matewan, an old captain/fisherman named Thomas Cottrell stated that he had seen a shark in the creek, but was ignored.
Unaware that he was about to dive with sharks, 11-year-old Lester Stillwell jumped into the creek with his friends. His friends saw a dark shape collide with him from behind and drag his body under the water. They ran for help and several men returned to the scene hoping to find Lester’s body. One of these men, a 24-year-old tailor named Stanley Fischer, was also bitten as he dove into the creek to start the search. He was bitten quite badly on the right thigh and, although he was taken to a hospital, Fischer died on the operating table. A few hours later, about a mile from where these two attacks took place, 14-year-old Joseph Dunn was also attacked in the creek. His injuries were not serious and he was the only one of the 5 total victims during this time who survived his encounter with sharks. Part of Lester Stillwell’s body was found two days later, a little upriver from where the boy had originally been attacked.
This was the first time sharks had entered the American consciousness in any significant way, and the reaction to these attacks was enormous. Beaches closed and many Atlantic Coast resorts lost millions of dollars in revenue. The assumption at the time was that all 5 attacks were the work of a single rogue shark, and a massive hunt for the “New Jersey Man-Eater” began. Even the government was reimbursing self-proclaimed shark hunters for trying to make this menace disappear. Matewan Creek was dynamited and hundreds of sharks (mostly harmless species) were killed along the shoreline. An 8-foot great white shark was caught, and its stomach contained remains that could have been human. Although many claimed this was the culprit (pretty much the end of the hunt), the country would never feel the same about taking a dip in the ocean.
Scientists have long argued about these attacks. Many do not believe that all five were the work of a shark, or even one species of shark. While the North Atlantic coast of the US is not one of the main locations for great white sharks in the world, it is not uncommon for them to be there. A great white shark may have attacked the first two victims near the hotel complexes. Several scientists speculate that the attacks in Matewan Creek were likely the work of one or more bull sharks, large sharks with aggressive natures that are known to thrive in both salt and fresh waters around the world. Some even believe that bull sharks may have been responsible for all the attacks. Was the great white shark framed? Subsequent (albeit statistically rare) attacks in the US and abroad in subsequent years have shown that the great white shark is more than capable of inflicting maximum damage on the human body, but was one of them really to blame? all the terror of July 1916? The one thing all scientists agree on is that we’ll never know for sure, which leaves the door wide open for Hollywood authors and filmmakers to weave their epic speculations.
