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Revealed:The Movie Jaws Was Inspired By The 1916 Shark Attacks Off The NJ. Coast
REVEALED: The 1916 shark attacks off the Jersey coast that was the inspiration for Jaws
PUBLISHED: 15:20 EST, 11 August 2012 | UPDATED: 07:32 EST, 12 August 2012
It was a film that has year after year kept many beach goers out of the oceans’ water for good.
But until now many haven’t known the series of real-life shark attacks in 1916 that sent New Jersey’s coast into a panic and are said to have inspired the hair-raising novel and blockbuster thriller: Jaws.
It started on July 1st. A 25-year-old swimmer off the town of Beach Haven was pulled from the water by a lifeguard, victim of a shark attack that had been largely unheard of happening in the area.
Fear: In 1916 New Jersey was in a panic after experiencing two fatalities along their coast suspected by sharks that prompted an article warning of their infestation, five days before three more attacks
Lying on the shore, Charles Vansant succumbed to his injuries after a loss of blood.
Five days later on July 6 while bathing along Spring Lake’s seaside coast, about 45 miles north, Charles Bruder, a young hotel bellhop was fatally attacked as well.
Fearing the worst was over, locals dismissed a sighting of a shark days later that was gradually moving north in Matawan Creek, an estuary that connects into Raritan Bay.
The sole witness Captain Thomas Cottrell, according to reports, described it as about 10ft long but locals thought his recount was exaggerated by the recent attacks.
Trail of fatalities: Traveling up New Jersey’s coast, five people were attacked by the shark, four fatally, before its believed kill on July 14 in Raritan Bay
Frenzy: This shark, seen on its back measuring 10ft and weighing 300lbs was caught off New York’s Long Island six days after a great white believed responsible for four fatalities was captured in Raritan Bay
On July 12, 11-year-old Lester Stillwell was fatally attacked while bathing in the Matawan Creek.
Watson Stanley Fisher, a young man at the scene, dove in with several other to help capture the fish, but was grabbed himself.
FIVE SHARK VICTIMS:
July 1: Beach Haven
1. Charles Vansant, 25, fatally attacked
July 6: Spring Lake
2. Charles Bruder, fatally attacked
July 12: Matawan Creek
3. Lester Stillwell, 11, fatally attacked
4. Watson Stanley Fisher, fatally attacked while trying to save Lester Stillwell
5. Joseph Dunn, attacked .5 miles downstream, survived
