Megalodon

[Resume]

14 hours ago, Habitat said:

"I was setting the last line of my first shot just before sunup when I noticed this very large shape very slowly coming into view and following the boat on my port side. I would clip on a dillie then look up to see if it was still there. I was trying to figure out what it could possibly be because it was ever so wide, wider than my boat. I decided it just had to be a Manta Ray because nothing else I could think of could be that wide across. I clipped on another dillie to the main line and tried to focus again on this dark shape which was merging from the depths and by now was quite close to the stern of the boat but still on my port side and the opposite side to me. My brain was still trying ever so hard to shape this thing into a Manta Ray. I clipped on yet another dillie and hastily looked to port again and there right beside the length of my boat on the port side was the unmistakeable shape of the biggest Shark ever, longer than my boat, wider than my boat, I thought to myself ‘no it can’t be a Shark, it has to be a Whale’. I just had time to really lock my sight onto the monster’s head for few seconds before I had to clip on another dillie and watch what I was doing.  No way, I thought, but there could be no mistake this was a super massive Great White Pointer Shark. For the next few minutes as the main line ran through my left hand feeling for the next marker to clip on another dillie I focused on the unmistakeable triangular pointed head of this monster. I looked again and again for I just could not comprehend what I was seeing but there could be no mistake for it was only inches below the surface and just a few feet away. It was truly like I did not believe what I was seeing with my own eyes which really felt a little creepy at the time.  Then it slowly peeled away and sank as it disappeared into the depths never to be seen by me again. That was 15 years ago.
For many years after it troubled me, was that Shark really as large as I visioned it with my own eyes? This Great White was larger than that Shark in the movie Jaws. Every time I thought about what I saw I’d think about how big it appeared and wonder if it may had been a Whale Shark or something else, but no, I have the image of that giant’s pointed head firm and clear and embedded in my brain, the image of a White Pointer. I have now read about massive extinct relatives of White Pointer Sharks which prowled the oceans millions of years ago.  Now for the first time my mind is a little at ease about what I saw. Although common sense tries very hard to tell me different, the creature I saw that morning while setting my gear may have started out in life as an ordinary White Pointer but that morning in the soft light before sunup I think I saw Megolodon."

  http://aloneatseaphotography.com.au/8250

"Aye, sixty feet and ten tons on 'er.  Yahrr!"

Edited September 18, 2018 by Resume

[Habitat]

I recall reading a book once where a story was told of a fishing boat of some size, with quite a few crew aboard, somewhere in New South Wales, had an encounter with a giant shark, this may have been 100 years ago, I only recall a few details, but the creature was certainly at least 10 metres long, as described, and had white colouration on at least part of it. It was supposedly attacking cray pots or fish traps brought to the surface. The other part of the story, I remember, some crew decided not to return to sea following their experience.

[+susieice]

3 hours ago, Piney said:

The only reason you read about it was somebody leaked the report. 

 Right @susieice   

I had to go back to see why I was here! If you go to the shore, just don't go in the water  Sharks become not so important.

[+susieice]

Going back to the OP, if I saw something that size in the shallows of Cape May, I'd probably never go near NJ again. If the Megalodon still exists and dwells in shallow water, someone would have noticed by now. If it's in the far depths I suppose anything could be possible, but highly unlikely.

[Carnoferox]

35 minutes ago, Habitat said:

I recall reading a book once where a story was told of a fishing boat of some size, with quite a few crew aboard, somewhere in New South Wales, had an encounter with a giant shark, this may have been 100 years ago, I only recall a few details, but the creature was certainly at least 10 metres long, as described, and had white colouration on at least part of it. It was supposedly attacking cray pots or fish traps brought to the surface. The other part of the story, I remember, some crew decided not to return to sea following their experience.

That's David Stead's 1963 anecdote about a supposed encounter in Australia in 1918. Suffice to say it doesn't have much credibility.

http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/megalodon.html

Edited September 18, 2018 by Carnoferox

[Habitat]

16 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

That's David Stead's 1963 anecdote about a supposed encounter in Australia in 1918. Suffice to say it doesn't have much credibility.

http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/megalodon.html

It does sound like it, I would have read that at least 30 years ago, I can't say it kept me out of the water ! I can't offer any opinion as to it's veracity, though I do recall thinking the number of witnesses had to add to the credibility.

[Carnoferox]

6 minutes ago, Habitat said:

It does sound like it, I would have read that at least 30 years ago, I can't say it kept me out of the water ! I can't offer any opinion as to it's veracity, though I do recall thinking the number of witnesses had to add to the credibility.

Here is Stead's account:

Quote

In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds---which lie in deep water---when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all". These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches [1.06 m] in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as a indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet [90 m] long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood---about 115 feet [35 m]! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish color of the vast fish. The local Fisheries Inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.

The fact that it was written 45 years after it purportedly happened and the ridiculous sizes reported cast a lot of doubt. I think it is just another "fish story"

[Habitat]

19 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

Here is Stead's account:

The fact that it was written 45 years after it purportedly happened and the ridiculous sizes reported cast a lot of doubt. I think it is just another "fish story"

There is nothing in print, anywhere, about this alleged incident, prior to the 1960's ? If that is so, I would not give the proverbial "two-bob" for it.

[ChrLzs]

1 hour ago, Habitat said:

There is nothing in print, anywhere, about this alleged incident, prior to the 1960's ? If that is so, I would not give the proverbial "two-bob" for it.

Not that I'm defending it (I don't buy it for a minute), but there's an awful lot of local papers and even major newspapers that have not digitised their old content - and some probably never will.  You'd need to visit libraries and do some very old fashioned legwork to be sure.

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by ChrLzs

[oldrover]

6 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

That's David Stead's 1963 anecdote about a supposed encounter in Australia in 1918. Suffice to say it doesn't have much credibility.

http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/megalodon.html

David Stead. One-time president of Australia's Wildlife Preservation Society, and one of the two key witnesses to there being no tigers at Beaumaris in early 1930. I'm actually referrencing thus chap later today, and had set aside about half an hour to recall his first name. But I don't need to now. 

[oldrover]

5 hours ago, Habitat said:

There is nothing in print, anywhere, about this alleged incident, prior to the 1960's ? If that is so, I would not give the proverbial "two-bob" for it.

 

4 hours ago, ChrLzs said:

Not that I'm defending it (I don't buy it for a minute), but there's an awful lot of local papers and even major newspapers that have not digitised their old content - and some probably never will.  You'd need to visit libraries and do some very old fashioned legwork to be sure.

 

I don't think there'll be anything earlier about this. This is a personal anecdote of Stead's regarding conversations he had.  Although somewhere on the Trove there might be a contemporary mention. 

[Habitat]

Was he a bullshifter, oldrover ? No way known a whole bunch of fisherman having the soul case frightened out of them, would not have attracted press attention at the time.

[oldrover]

1 hour ago, Habitat said:

Was he a bullshifter, oldrover ? No way known a whole bunch of fisherman having the soul case frightened out of them, would not have attracted press attention at the time.

No, I'm confident Stead himself was straight. I know of him from other more serious issues. But of course he merely relayed the tale. 

The story did appear in the contemporary press. The Trove comes through again. 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45441604

It's clear from the version there that it wasn't taken entirely seriously by the journalist, and that Stead arrived within a short time of the men's story being set, and that he assumed there would have been a rational explanation. Also, it surprises me that even 100 years ago, the tale was linked to Megalodon. 

8 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

That's David Stead's 1963 anecdote about a supposed encounter in Australia in 1918. Suffice to say it doesn't have much credibility.

http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/megalodon.html

Tricky reference at that site. Stead died in 1957, but the book was published in 1963. 

[Habitat]

Thanks , oldrover, so it was a contemporary story, I wasn't aware they were Greek fisherman, not that that is here nor there, but might have increased the scepticism factor, in those days "foreigners" would not have been held in the same regard as the "sons of Albion" by the general populace or press.

[Carnoferox]

20 minutes ago, oldrover said:

No, I'm confident Stead himself was straight. I know of him from other more serious issues. But of course he merely relayed the tale. 

The story did appear in the contemporary press. The Trove comes through again. 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45441604

It's clear from the version there that it wasn't taken entirely seriously by the journalist, and that Stead arrived within a short time of the men's story being set, and that he assumed there would have been a rational explanation. Also, it surprises me that even 100 years ago, the tale was linked to Megalodon. 

Tricky reference at that site. Stead died in 1957, but the book was published in 1963. 

I did not realize there was a contemporary newspaper account. Thanks for the link.

[oldrover]

12 minutes ago, Habitat said:

Thanks , oldrover, so it was a contemporary story, I wasn't aware they were Greek fisherman, not that that is here nor there, but might have increased the scepticism factor, in those days "foreigners" would not have been held in the same regard as the "sons of Albion" by the general populace or press.

As is illustrated to us nicely by the comedy phonetics used in the article. 

 

[oldrover]

10 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

I did not realize there was a contemporary newspaper account. Thanks for the link.

I hadn't either. It wouldn't have been available prior to 2008 when the Trove came on-line.

 

[Habitat]

1 minute ago, oldrover said:

As is illustrated to us nicely by the comedy phonetics used in the article. 

 

Yes indeed, shameless racism, but when I was a kid back in the 60's southern Europeans seemed commonly referred to as "dagoes". 

[Carnoferox]

Just now, oldrover said:

I hadn't either. It wouldn't have been available prior to 2008 when the Trove came on-line.

 

The newspaper is interesting because it mentions megalodon teeth dredged up in the Pacific by the USS Albatross, but falsely claims that they were "recently-shed". 

[oldrover]

2 minutes ago, Habitat said:

Yes indeed, shameless racism, but when I was a kid back in the 60's southern Europeans seemed commonly referred to as "dagoes". 

That term is very familiar to me too. 

[oldrover]

1 minute ago, Carnoferox said:

The newspaper is interesting because it mentions megalodon teeth dredged up in the Pacific by the USS Albatross, but falsely claims that they were "recently-shed". 

That struck me too. 

[Carnoferox]

3 minutes ago, oldrover said:

That struck me too. 

I'm currently trying to find records for the teeth found by the Albatross. I will post what I find.

[openozy]

39 minutes ago, Habitat said:

Yes indeed, shameless racism, but when I was a kid back in the 60's southern Europeans seemed commonly referred to as "dagoes". 

They were also referred to as Dapto Dogs,but I think its  local Sydney slang.

[Carnoferox]

Eastman (1903) documents the teeth dredged up by the Albatross and they are all from Mio-Pliocene sharks like Otodus megalodon, Cosmopolitodus, and Parotodus. There are no claims of "recently-shed" teeth to be found, so I wonder where the newspaper article came up with that.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Carnoferox

[oldrover]

13 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

Eastman (1903) documents the teeth dredged up by the Albatross and they are all from Mio-Pliocene sharks like Otodus megalodon, Cosmopolitodus, and Parotodus. There are no claims of "recently-shed" teeth to be found, so I wonder where the newspaper article came up with that.

Think of how good newspapers are at describing palaeontology today, then subtract 100 years of progress.