Note the shallows and darker deepwater channel at Pitt Water mentioned in Lloyd s account. Chris Black ACTIVITY: Swimming CASE: GSAF 1825.00.00.b DATE: Circa 1825 LOCATION: The incident took place at Sweetwater Point (known today as Shark Point) in Pitt Water, Tasmania, Australia. 42º48'S, 147º31'E (approximately) NAME: Amphibious Jack DESCRIPTION: He was a male, a convict laborer. As a convict laborer he was working off his sentence, not laboring in a paid position. BACKGROUND ENVIRONMENT: The attack was witnessed by 15-year-old George Thomas Lloyd, who described the event in his book. Thirty-Three Years in Tasmania and Victoria, published in England in 1862. Lloyd wrote, The shallow lake of the Pitt Water, whilst it abounds with edible fish, abounds also with sharks of a most peculiar and ravenous nature. I can speak of their qualifications in the latter respect. I can speak with only too much certainty from having once been an eyewitness to a scene of the most painful and exciting character. In those primitive times, almost every particle of lime used in the colony was obtained by burning oyster shells, firmly knit beds of which were discovered on my uncle s farm, to the extent of one chain (22 yards) from the high water mark, and varying in depth from six to eight feet, embedded in rich sandy loam. DEPTH OF WATER AT INCIDENT SITE: Four feet
NARRATIVE: Upon one occasion whilst occupied in superintending the work appointed to four of our men who were employed in erecting a temporary kiln and collecting shells to be burned into lime at Sweetwater Point, I observed three men, partly undressed, enter the wide shallow sheet of water which separated us from the opposite shore. Each was provided with a sack, evidently to be filled with oysters of which they were in search. For a considerable distance the depth did not exceed one foot but imperceptibly deepened by a few inches as they approached a narrow channel, which at that spot was about one hundred yards in width and five to eight feet deep. Not having been very successful in their collection of shell-fish, one man, more courageous than his companions, with a loud coőe notified his intention to swim over, get some of our oysters, and tell us the last news of the Bushrangers. He was, however, earnestly cautioned against entering the channel, by our lime-burners, some of whom had been attacked by a shark, nearly opposite to the spot where he was then standing. The poor fellow, who was called Amphibious Jack, from his skill in the art of swimming, declared he had no fear, and he came over and bring on his back the few oysters he had collected, saying which, he plunged into the channel. The narrow strait was nearly passed in safety, and the self-approving man, laughing aloud at the alleged danger, was attacked by two of these ruthless monsters. One of them seized the poor victim by the calf of the leg, and instantly shook him down, whilst the other, in the heat of the desperate struggle, seized the oyster sack, and bore it off in triumph. The heart-rending cries of the unfortunate suffer, who was violently and almost hopelessly contending for his life, and was visible above water alternately with the flashing tail of his fierce adversary, were quickly responded to by the lime-burners, who, seeing that the shark had accidentally floundered with his human victim into shallow water, instantly armed themselves with pickaxe, spade, and crowbars, and rushed to the rescue. The finny monster was too deeply engaged to notice his own danger; and notwithstanding that he had severed and devoured the entire calf, he continued to hold the mutilated leg repeating at every instant the powerful and peculiar jerks which all fish can give in their own element. Added to the blind desperation of the shark, the water, rendered turbid with blood and sand, effectually obscured his vision, and thus favoured the approach of the man with the avenging pickaxe which, with a hearty curse and powerful arm was sent clean home through the head of the formidable fish. The shark instantly released his hold of the almost lifeless man and escaped into deep water, but with the avenging implement firmly fixed in his broad skull. INJURY: Fatal. The poor victim was rapidly conveyed to the shore but the main arteries of the leg of the poor sufferer were so effectually severed that the scarlet tide of life had finally ebbed and, ere the mangled victim could be conveyed to shore, the vital spark fled. SPECIES INVOLVED: Not identified, although it was speculated the attack may have involved a sevengill shark. If so, it remains an isolated event. It is also possible that another species of shark may have entered the channel, perhaps in pursuit of schooling fish. The inlet at Lewisham which separates the wide waterway of Frederick Henry from the more sheltered Pitt Water could have allowed the ingress of such a predator. It is conceivable that
a young white shark may have strayed into the channel and traveled the 12 kilometers to Shark Point without meeting any physical obstruction to its progress. CASE INVESTIGATOR: Chris Black, Global Shark Accident File Incident site : Shark Point at Pitt Water Chris Black
Courier (Brisbane, Queensland), Thursday October 16, 1862, page 4 Ref: George Thomas Lloyd, in Thirty-Three Years in Tasmania and Victoria. London: Houlston & Wright, January 1, 1862, pages 79-81
The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania), Saturday May 19, 1934, page 3