Jersey Shore shark attacks among highlights of book
On Aug. 27, 1913, fishing a few miles off the coast of Lavallette, New Jersey, a crew led by Captain John Steifbold captured a 12-foot, 800-pound shark. Upon gutting the shark, the fishermen were shocked to find a human foot, ankle and shin – still clothed by a sock, a man’s shoe and part of a trouser.
The find was reported by two newspapers, the Belmar Coast Adviser and Trenton Evening News.
On the same day, 15 miles to the north, fisherman William Ohmer hooked a shark off the coast of Spring Lake. When the crew cut the shark open, it revealed a human foot – wearing a woman’s shoe and part of a knitted stocking.
The Washington Post reported that police and media members were in attendance as Ohmer explained the discovery.
Wait a minute ... TWO foot-gobbling Jersey Shore sharks captured in the same day?
“I’ve always wondered if it was the same story – if one was based on the other but only got the details half right,” Red Bank biologist and marine science teacher Bob Heyer said. “It’s just very bizarre. That would be one of the most amazing coincidences ever.”
Heyer explored these reports and others for a book he co-authored with wife Pat Heyer titled “Shark Attacks of the Jersey Shore.” Published earlier this year by The History Press, the book chronicles 60 documented shark attacks in the Garden State from 1842 to the present day.
The mysterious discoveries of 1913 were an exception in that the victims remain unknown.
“I really combed the newspapers for reports of missing people,” Bob Heyer said. “It’s not that unusual in those days for people to go missing. If someone fell off a boat, you might not know about it.”
It’s also possible that the victims were from New York City or Long Island, and the shark migrated south.
“They were probably not local people,” Heyer said.
Still, they remain classified as separate incidents by the New Jersey Shark Attack File, which Heyer maintains. Many encounters detailed in the book are far less grisly.
There only have been a handful of fatal shark attacks in state history, most of which occurred during the well-chronicled 1916 “Summer of Horror” in Beach Haven, Spring Lake and Matawan.
“So many of the interactions between sharks and humans were really due to the folly of the human being,” Pat Heyer said. “Today there is so much knee-jerk reaction to the word, ‘shark,’ yet millions of people go into the water, and it’s really minuscule the number of encounters we have with them.”
The book is particularly timely in light of last week’s reports of a bull shark sighting in the Navesink River. “Shark Attacks of the Jersey Shore” details four shark encounters in the Navesink from the 19th century.
“There were a series of attacks, involving probably bull sharks,” Bob Heyer said.
In the 1800s, he said, the Navesink opened directly to the ocean via a nowclosed inlet, so “it used to be much saltier.” Still, last week’s report didn’t surprise him. As the water gets cleaner (due to conservation efforts) and warmer, marine life and their predators will follow.
“There is a huge amount of cownose rays in the area right now, which was uncommon,” Bob Heyer said. “I do think we are going to see more attacks in the future simply because we have more sharks in the water.”
But, he cautioned, sharks are not looking to eat people.
“If they wanted to eat us, they could eat us all the time,” he said. “My hope when people read the book is not to fear sharks so much, but realize we’re going into sharks’ home, and if we’re kayaking or paddle-boarding or scuba diving we need to be aware of that. If we don’t harass them, the likelihood of an attack is very low.”