(2 of 2)
Next day he heard about the wreck of an airplane off Havana in which one Edwin F. Atkins Jr., a U. S. planter in Cuba, had been lost. Friends of the planter identified the shark's meal. For years thereafter whenever a person asked him the old question, "Will sharks eat human beings?" Sharkman Young produced a photograph of his partner standing in front of the disemboweled shark, holding the Atkins human arm. Last fortnight that sickening picture, with many another, was reproduced in Sharkman Young's garrulous, rambling fisherman's book Shark! Shark!, set down for him by Horace S. Mazet*
On the question of whether sharks will attack living human beings, Sharkman Young is less convincing. He has never seen it happen. But he has heard enough well-authenticated stories, some of them backed up by photographs in his book, to be himself convinced. Reassuring is the fact that out of several hundred varieties of shark, only about seven have either the disposition or dental equipment to be man-eaters. They are the Blue, Great White, Tiger, Hammerhead, Brown, Australian Whaler and Gray Nurse sharks. Even these are not likely to attack unless maddened by the smell of blood or fresh meat in the water. Most sharks are cowards, easily frightened off by a little hand-waving or water-splashing.
Sharkman Young confirms cinemagoers' suspicions that it would be almost impossible for a swimmer armed only with a knife to kill a shark. The shark, which swims 40 to 50 m.p.h., would probably be off like a streak if he saw a man diving toward him. Even if the man got close, it would take a powerful and lucky thrust to penetrate the shark's tough hide and cartilage, pierce its two-inch heart.
Shark-hunters have no luck with guns or dynamite. A dead shark sinks at once. In his Hawaiian days Sharkman Young used to rip open a dead horse, trail it behind his boat, harpoon the sharks as they swarmed to tear at the flesh. When he went into shark-hunting on a commercial scale, Sharkman Young strung 600-ft. nets along the ocean floor. A shark never turns back. Stopped by a net, it rolls over & over until it is hopelessly entangled. After chemists learned some 15 years ago how to remove the prickly, flint-like denticle from a shark's tough hide, the shark leather industry began to grow. Sharkman Young has spent most of his time since then supplying raw material. With millions of sharks to be had for the taking, he thinks the shark business has a big future. Shark oil is used for tanning, steel-tempering, paint-making. Tons of shark meat, which tastes something like lobster, are sold daily throughout the world, usually under the name of "rock salmon" or "grayfish." Ground-up shark carcass makes good poultry feed or fertilizer. Chinese snap up shark fins for making soup.
* Last captive birth was in Panama's Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (Medical Research) last year.
* Golham House ($4); half-bound in shark leather.