Escaping the jaws of death! Briton swims 4 miles to f lee 13ft shark
A BRITISH diver who swam almost five miles to shore to escape from a 13ft shark said yesterday that he was sure he was going to die.
John Craig relived the terrifying ordeal off the Australian coast in which the huge tiger shark came at him repeatedly as if working out if he ‘could be on the menu’.
It took him an exhausting three hours to swim the 4.6miles to shore with the shark just feet away during the first third of a mile. And although the predator stalking him then disappeared he was afraid it would return. ‘I just kept telling myself, “make it to land and you’ll be OK”,’ he said.
The drama happened off Shark Bay, 500 miles north of Perth, where Mr Craig, 34, from Sunderland moved two years ago with his wife Emma.
Mr Craig, who was hugged by his wife after his escape, had been spear-fishing underwater when he got his spear stuck under a rock. After freeing it he looked up to see his boat had vanished. It was being manned by a friend but had mechanical difficulties and drifted away.
As Mr Craig splashed and shouted for help the tiger shark – the biggest he has seen in ten years as a diving instructor – came into view and circled him within arm’s reach while a sandbar whaler shark, which is also carnivorous, lingered further away.
‘My heart rate was sky high,’ said Mr Craig, now of Denham, Western Australia, who forced himself to stay calm and remain still in the hope the sharks would lose interest. He said: ‘I watched the tiger shark circle and then suddenly approach me multiple times from different angles. It was definitely trying to work out what I was and whether I could be on the menu, but each time it approached I used my spear gun to block its path.
‘After about two minutes of this dance I thought, “I have to get out of here” and started swimming for shore. The tiger shark was still curious as ever and began following me as I started swimming. I have to admit that at this point I thought I was gone – four nautical miles out to sea with a huge tiger shark following me – I thought this was it, this is how I’m going to die.’
The shark appeared intermittently from the gloom and then disappeared again, keeping pace with Mr Craig’s flipper. Meanwhile, rescue teams were searching for him.
Mr Craig continued: ‘For about 500metres the shark swam on the same path as me towards the shore and then in a moment banked and disappeared completely as if to say “you’re OK now, I’ll leave you alone”.
‘The shark was gone but I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t return. I must have swum for around three hours, the water got shallower, then deeper so I could not see the bottom which was very nerve-racking as it meant I was still miles from shore.’
Even when he got to the beach his ordeal was not over as he was miles from a village. He said: ‘I was exhausted. I could barely stand my legs were so sore from the swim. I just thought about my wife and how worried she’d be. I just wanted to tell her I was alive.’
Half an hour later he saw a fishing boat approaching shore, ending the hours of terror.
Rescuers, who had taken to boats and a plane to search for him, reported seeing ‘heaps of big sharks’ in the water.
Glen Ridgley, from Shark Bay Volunteer Marine Rescue, said: ‘I could not believe someone could swim that far in such a short time.
‘I guess where there’s a shark besides you spurring you on, it’s like a trainer.’
‘My heart rate was sky high’