THE PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER — JUNE 28, 1908
Told by Chas. A. Reeves and set down by H. Melton Ayres
in The Wide World Magazine.
It was in May, 1906, that an adventure happened to me which dispelled once for all in my mind a deep-rooted doubt as to whether a shark would attack a human being in a boat.
The weather had been stormy for some days, but had finally cleared, and a smooth sea tempted me to try my luck with the “auau,” a fish which is a favorite of mine on account of its “gamy” qualities.
Embarking in a fourteen-foot flat-bottomed skiff soon after daylight, I rowed to my fishing ground near the bell-buoy, a distance of nearly two mass from the harbor of Honolulu, anchoring about six hundred feet on the Waikiki side of the buoy.
Sport with the auau was good, and it was not long before I had about forty of the long, little fish, each about two feet in length, lying in the bottom of the skiff.
While fishing I had noticed two sharks pass near me, one of which hovered around the boat for a little while and then disappeared. Their appearance caused me no apprehension, however, for it was no unusual thing to see sharks near the bell-buoy.
Presently my attention was attracted by a big shark, fully sixteen feet long and unusually heavily built, which made a dash at a fish that I was pulling in. It turned over on its side in an attempt to seize the auau, but I was a little too quick for it, and managed to land my fish safely.
