Harry Piers: Museum Maker

Notes from Piers Accession Book:

Scientific Name:  Upper lateral tooth of Carcharodon carcharias (Linn.)

Common Name:  Man-eater Shark

Discipline:  Fish

Locality and When Collected:  Found embedded in the wood of the under-water part of a 25 ft. motor-boat belonging to Wilson Munroe, fishermand, and his young son, of Victoria Bach, Ann. Co., which boat had been unprovokedly attacked by the shark while they were tending their trawl in 40 fathoms of water eastern side of Bay of Fundy, about 10 miles northwest of Digby Gut, Ann. Co., Nova Scotia, just after dawn 10 2 July 1932.  The locality would be about lat. 44 47' long. 65 51" (as to the date, Capt. Morgan says it was in July.  An item about it appeared in a Halifax Newspaper, and on 27 July /33, about 10 days or so after the item appeared I wrote to W. Monroe for particulars, so that I think about 10th July is a reasonable date for the occurrence.)

Collector (c) Donor (d):  Wilson Monroe (c.d.) fisherman, Victoria Beach, Ann. Co., N.S.

Quantity:  1

Received:  2 Nov 1932

Remarks:  This shark attacked Wilson Monroe’s 25 ft. motor-boat very early in the morning, just after dawn, of a clear day, early in July, 1932 .  At the time it was slack water at low tide, and the sea quite calm.  Monroe and his young son, in their 25-ft motor-boat stopped to purchase their fishing trawls.  The shark at first circled around another boat about a quarter of a mile away.  Then, without the slightest provocation it wantonly attacked Munroe’s boat, which  was suddenly hove-up forward on the starboard (right) side; which pushed the boat down aft to port (left), both Monroe and his son being aft at the time, to tend the trawls.  When the boat thus went down aft, water slopped in over the port-quarter gunnel.  Capt. Elmer Morgan in his report says that Monroe could not get a sight of the fish, and did not know what it was that had disturbed the boat, although Monroe writes me that “as near as I could tell the shark was about thirty feet long.”  Most likely he did not see it, and merely surmised its length.  The fish, with a number of bumps against the boat, worked its way aft, under the starboard (right) bilge; and then got clear of the boat.  Some say he renewed his attack more than once, but this is not probable, and is not mentioned by Capt. Morgan.  It may have referred to its having been previously about the other boat.-  When the Monroe got ashore and examined the boat, the found that the fish had bent the blades of the 3-bladed propeller and in doing so had likely been cut before getting away.  The boat was not particularly damaged, but some of the animal's teeth were left in the keel or one of the under strakes (boards); and one of these is the present specimen (No. 7508).  The men suppose that the shark was feeding on a fish hooked on the trawls, when the boat came along and interrupted him.  (This account is almost entirely based on the verbal account by Capt. Elmer Morgan, fishing inspector, of Bear River, Ann. Co., who was at Victoria Beach a day or two after this incident, and who gave the particulars on 21 Jan./33, to J.W.D. Stevens of the "Spectator", Annapolis, for my information (continued...).

Date Accessioned: 2 Nov 1932

Reference: Harry Piers number 7508  Nova Scotia Museum Zoology Collection