CATCHING A SHARK

IT was a, breezeless, stifling, sunbaked afternoon in Suez Bay. On one side of us the white, . flat-roofed houses of Port lima shimmered in the heat. On the other, the steep, predominating, dark brown cliff, which is a landmark of Suez, rose boldly towards a vivid sky; The sea, landlocked between them, was like oil in appear- ance and movement.

The ship was at anchor and all hands lolled listlessly. Complete boredom-had descended upon us, and there was no conversation. A ship anchored a few cable lengths away showed no signs of life. 1, lying at my ease on deck, was haunted by a longing for an English green field of waving grass. An apprentice wished that something exciting might happen. Something did.

The Motionless ship on our left suddenly became alive. We -could see the men aboard her darting here and there. They called to us that they had sighted a shark, and soon we saw him astern of us. All hands in both ships now began in good, gleeful earnest to try to catch him. It is considered something in these days of steamers and quick voyages to catch a shark. It was counted a red-letter day even in the days when the old " windjammers " were frequently becalmed in shark-infested waters.

One Of our engineers sharpened three meat hooks and we lashed them together to make a sort of grappling iron. We baited this with a huge piece of fresh meat, for a shark will not bite for salt meat.

There was now great excitement between the two ships. Which of us would catch him ?

For two hours the shark swam about, sighted again and again by both ships, but he did not bite. Evening came on and with it a slight breeze. All hands were on dear again, gazing intently into the water, watching in silence for the shark as- he swam in and out between the two ships, constantly appearing and disappearing, with his pilot fish darting here and there before him.

• Suddenly there was a yell of victory from the other ship. He had bitten and they had him fast. Their cries floated across the -water to us.- "Steady, boys " "Slack away a little ; don't let him break it " "He's getting tired." "Nov, heave ! 'Up he conies. Ei long, slimy,' greenish body hangs flat against the ship's side. Swiftly they slip a bowline beneath his fins and haul taut. He opens his huge mouth and the sailors pour a bucket of fresh water down his throat. A bucket of fresh water will always quiet a shark.

They prepare to haul him aboard. It is a long haul,' for the ship is light and high out of water. Higher and higher he- goes, when suddenly. . . . Splash . . He has got away. There is a long groan of disappoint- ment. The bowline should have held him, even if he had only swallowed the bait and had not been hooked. It must have been a "slippery hitch."

The sun had dipped behind the gaunt brown rock and it was rapidly going dark. We turned away with keen disappointment, for the game seemed over. ' Yet we decided to leave our line out all night on chance. We turned in and by morning most of us had forgotten all about the shark.

Hearing a perfect babel of chatter soon after dawn, we came on deck. There was a fleet of dhows gathered round our stern. We strolled aft to find the cause ; and there, hooked firmly this time, was the shark.

The Arabs in their dhows ply constantly between the ships in Suez Bay, selling tobacco, fruit, Turkish delight, and other such profitable and miscellaneous merchandise. They had noticed our efforts of the previous day, and in the early morning had discovered our capture before we knew of it ourselves. They immediately began to bargain with 'us for the carcase, so we invited them on board to complete the capture.

It was they who hauled him up and drugged him with several buckets of fresh water.

Our ship was a turret ship, with a sponson deck about a foot above water. On to this the shark was easily hauled. He recovered a little, and began to' lash about with his huge tail until he made the iron plates ring. His great mouth, when he opened it, reminded one -of a stalactite cave. , .

It only remained now to put paid to the account of another man-eater as rapidly as possible. (Sailors put all sharks down as being man-eaters.) The boatswain came along with the great top-maul used by " Chips " the carpenter. He swung it round his head and brought it down with a clear and crashing blow on the head of the shark. It rebounded as though from indiarubber, and the shark was still very much alive. But another blow—with the pointed end this time—told. In a few seconds he was dead.

We found inside him a large nut and bolt, twenty feet of rope, and twenty-six fish, something like mackerel, some of which still showed signs of life.

' Then the usual perquisites 'were distributed. The tail is always fixed to the end of the jibboom in a ship which has one. The captain had the jaws and teeth. We tossed for the pupils of his eyes and they fell to me. At first they are soft like a ball of jelly, but after some horns they become quite hard. They are of- a topaz-like substance and can be mounted as ornaments. In former days sailors used them as waistcoat buttons and were very proud of them.

- After much bargaining the Arabs gave us g2 10s. for his body. They eat- flesh of the shark, though its appearance remins one of geological strata and it looks to an Englishman about as edible. H. E. Avno'N.