Diver Recalls 1960s Encounter With Great White Shark Where He Played Dead to Save Self From Cruel Attack

Then 25-year-old Frank Logan was diving for sea snails at Bodega Rock in the Sonoma County of California when a disaster took place.

As indicated in a Mirror report, Logan, in 1968, when he was at that age, was cruelly attacked by the superpredator that left him with 18 tooth stabs across a 20-inch crescent-shaped wound throughout his torso.

A fast-thinking diver has recalled how he pretended to be dead after a great white shark, which is generally described in a National Geographic report, bit him and carried him 16 feet through the ocean.

The diver, wearing a black wetsuit and snorkel, was with friends Floyd Blanchard and Bill Posten for 25 minutes at a reef when a shark plunged its teeth into his body.

Great White Shark
A Great White Shark is attracted by a lure on the 'Shark Lady Adventure Tour' on October 19, 2009, in Gansbaai, South Africa. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images


Thrashed Around the Shark's Jaws

Recalling the occurrence, Logan said, he felt something came down on his legs like a gigantic vice, and then a crushing pain in his chest and back.

The shark then started to thrash him around in his jaws, when he, a fast thinker, decided to play dead and allowed his body to go limp.

Frank, then in his twenties, was then carried 16 feet through the water before he was released by the shark who swam away after.

His companions helped get him to shore before they drove him to the hospital where surgeons employed over 200 sutures to repair his wounds.

Essentially, the dimensions of their injuries to Frank, a similar Daily Star report said, suggested that the shark was approximately 13 feet long when he struck in 1968.

Furthermore, the author of the Emperors of the Deep William McKeever said his experience of Frank is proof of sharks that have no interest in dining or human flesh as a delicious meal. The ISAF database reveals that sharks are rarely feeding on their victims.

Sound of Movement Over Smell of Blood

In his book, released in 2020, McKeever added that it is the sound of movement instead of the smell of blood that's drawing sharks to humans at sea.

The author also explained that one commonly held view is that one drop of blood from a human will precipitate an attack. While it is true that these animals can identify small quantities of substances in the water, a few drops of blood will rapidly dissipate in the ocean.

In cases wherein a shark victim is bleeding in the water, and more than a single shark was in the vicinity, the blood did not draw to other sharks.

Since sharks are far more possible to home in on low-frequency sounds, like the thrashing of a wounded fish, or a human who's kicking wildly on padding energetically on a safe board, it is far more possible to draw the attention of a shark compared to a few drops of blood are.

Lastly, McKeever also said that even victims who were bleeding profusely like Logan, were not thereafter, attacked after the initial bite, only four percent of victims reported being attacked in such a frenzied manner.

Related information about great white sharks is shown on InformOverload's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Sharks in Science Times.

Join the Discussion

Recommended Stories

Real Time Analytics