Jaws aboard … fisherman’s the one that got away
Great white shark jumps into boat
SYDNEY // An elderly Australian fisherman lived to tell the tale after a great white shark leapt into his boat, surviving with only an injured arm after he was sent flying by the beast.
Terry Selwood, 73, was enjoying some quiet time on the water off Evans Head in northern New South Wales state when he was given the fright of his life.
“I caught a blur of something coming over the boat and the pectoral fin of the shark hit me on the forearm and spun me round, knocked me to my hands and knees,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “He came right over the top of the motor and then dropped on to the floor.” The shark was 2.7 metres long, and with the boat 1.4 metres across and 4.5 metres from bow to stern, it was a tight squeeze.
“There I was on all fours and he’s looking at me, and then he started to do the dance around and shake and I couldn’t get out quick enough on to the gunwale,” Mr Selwood said, referring to the boat’s upper edge.
“I looked down and I thought ‘there’s a shark in me boat’.
“I was losing a fair amount of blood, I was stunned, I couldn’t register what happened and then I thought ‘I’ve got to get out of here’.”
He managed to grab his radio and called local marine rescue volunteers, who plucked him from the boat and took him ashore where he was treated for skin torn off his arm.
They then retrieved his boat and the body of the unwanted passenger, which a department of primary industries official identified as a great white.