An Irishman’s Diary about the shark attacks that inspired ‘Jaws’

Epic struggles between men and sea creatures have often inspired novelists. For example, there were exactly 100 years between the publication of Herman Melville's Moby Dick (1851) and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1951). It is also 100 years this month since the fatal shark attacks along the New Jersey coastline that may have been the inspiration for Peter Benchley's 1974 best-selling novel Jaws and the enormously successful film of the following year.

The shark attacks occurred between July 1st and 12th, 1916; of the five people bitten, four died and one survived but had a limb amputated. Such attacks on the mid- and north Atlantic coast of the US were very unusual but a heatwave that summer meant far more people going to the beaches, and scientists believe the increased numbers of bathers and sharks in the water led to the attacks.

The first occurred on July 1st at Beach Haven on the southern New Jersey shore. The victim was Charles Vansant (25) from Philadelphia, who was on holiday with his family. Bitten on the thigh by a shark while swimming, he was rescued by a lifeguard but bled to death in the hotel in which he was staying. His death did not lead to the closure of New Jersey sea resorts. In addition, sightings of large sharks swarming off the coast, reported by sailors, were ignored.

The second fatal attack happened five days later at Spring Lake, about 70 kilometres north of Beach Haven, when 27-year-old Charles Bruder was bitten in the abdomen and had his legs severed. Lifeguards brought him ashore in a lifeboat but he bled to death on the way.

Two tragedies then followed on July 12th about 50 kilometres north of Spring Lake; this time they were inland of the bay in a place called Matawan Creek. Lester Stilwell (11) was playing with other boys in the creek when he was pulled under by a shark. The boys ran to get help and 24-year-old Watson Fisher came and dived into the creek. He found Stilwell’s body and was bringing him to the edge when he too was bitten; he later died in the local hospital from loss of blood.

Attacks

Shortly after those attacks, 14-year-old Joseph Dunn was bitten about half a mile away; his brother managed to pull him free and fight the shark off. Dunn survived but had to have his left leg amputated.

Widespread media coverage led to panic among the public and a series of shark hunts. Resorts placed steel nets a certain distance out into the water to protect swimmers. Not much was known about sharks at the time and scientists at first expressed surprise at the attacks; there was no agreement on whether only one or many sharks were involved and which type they might be.

On July 14th, Michael Schleisser managed to kill a shark near Matawan Creek after a struggle during which it almost sank his boat. Scientists identified it as a young great white and said remains found in its stomach were human. It was declared to be the “Jersey man-eater”. Some later experts have argued that a bull shark was a more likely culprit as that species is known to swim from the ocean up rivers and creeks, such as that at Matawan.

As a result of the attacks, as well as the scientific community revising its view of sharks, the public at large switched from considering them harmless to viewing them as highly dangerous – an attitude that has remained ever since.

Although Peter Benchley denied that these events influenced his novel, four people are killed by a great white in Jaws. Steven Spielberg's film version of the book refers directly to the 1916 attacks. The mayor of the area is urged to close the beaches. Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) tells him that apparently a great white shark has staked a claim in the waters off the resort and that it would continue to attack as long as there were people in the water, while Brody (Roy Scheider) says: "It happened before: the Jersey beach, 1916 – five people chewed up on the surf!" A later Benchley novel, White Shark (1994), also referred briefly to the 1916 New Jersey shore attacks.

Richard Fernicola published two analyses of these events: In Search of the 'Jersey Man-Eater' (1987) and Twelve Days of Terror (2001), which was turned into a docudrama of the same name on the Discovery Channel (2004). Two television documentaries on the Matawan Creek killings were Attacks of the Mystery Shark on the National Geographic Channel (2002) and Blood in the Water on the Discovery Channel (2009).