An amusing story of the hoax played by the officers of a liner in the South African service is going the rounds, the details having just been revealed on the vessel's arrival at Colombo. It appears that on the voyage the ship had to heave-to in mid-ocean to remedy an engine defect, and during that time a large shark was caught. As the passengers had for some days been talking about the man-eating propensities of the sharks seen following in the ship's wake, the officers staged a little comedy. By means of a capstan bar they thrust down the throat of the captured fish a pair of old shoulder-straps, a belt buckle and pocket compass. Shortly afterwards the shark was cut up in the presence of the passengers, and these articles were solemnly brought to light. Horror, mingled with speculation as to the identity of the unfortunate mariner who had formed the shark's dinner, and there was a general scramble to secure the pocket compass. This was raffled, and won by a woman, who announced her intention of having the latitude and longitude of the sad spot engraved on the back. Up to the present no one has had the courage to enlighten her.
The Irish Times, March 30th, 1931