I want to know if there has ever been an unprovoked shark attack around the coast of Britain. (Drunken bet this one).
Googling seems to tell me that something happened in the north sea in 1996, but I can’t find any backup for this. I would have thought this would have been big news at the time but I can’t find any further details.
Has there ever been a provoked shark attack in British waters? Jesus, what do British people do while swimming?
Unprovoked? How do you provoke a shark, other than by existing and being edible?
That blend of biting satire and self-effacing pathos for which the British are famous. Sharks hate it.
If you’re filming a documentary about sharks around the British Isles you might dangle some raw meat into the water in the hope of attracting sharks. The camera man, now in the water, finds the footage he is getting a bit boring so decides to entice the sharks into some aggressive behaviour. Unsurprisingly, the sharks go for him.
Okay, it’s unlikely - but it counts.
There have been instances of sharks being caught, hauled on a boat, being slightly miffed about it and biting someone. This is what I mean by provoked.
Thanks for the link Tymp. It shows 2 unprovoked UK attacks between 1847 and 2008. But again, there is no further information.
Sharks have much better places to go than British beaches.
Not true. I once saw a basking shark leisurely cruising along the Welsh coast near Pwhelli. Okay, I accept it may have been lost, but still.
Probably not – we do get the occasional unusual visitor (there have even been unconfirmed reports of Great Whites), but basking sharks live in British waters year round.
It has been suggested that the greatest danger from sharks occurs in warm tropical seas, [however] there are records of sharks attacking people in the distinctly chilly seas of high latitudes, such as the fisherman at Wick, northernmost Scotland…who was bitten on the arm. - Rodney Steel, “Sharks of the World”
From here. It occurred on 27 June 1960.
Safety tip – sharks in British waters attack from the left side.
My left, or the shar…aaaaaaarghhhh…