Twelve Days of Terror : A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks

by Richard G. Fernicola, MD

• ISBN13: 9781585742974
• ISBN10: 158574297X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-04-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

In July 1916, a time of record-setting heat and a raging polio epidemic, beachgoers along the New Jersey shore confronted a greater terror still: lurking in the water swam a shark, or perhaps several sharks, that had apparently developed a taste for human flesh. Within less than two weeks, the offending fish killed four swimmers and badly injured another, setting off a wave of panic that kept visitors well out of the water and threatened the state's thriving tourist economy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xv
Beach Haven: July 1	1	(12)
Spring Lake: July 6	13	(20)
Matawan: July 12	33	(34)
In the Wake of the Terror	67	(30)
When the Sea Tiger Attacks	97	(42)
Science Stalks the Phanton	139	(40)
The New Generation of Shark Hunters	179	(20)
The Wounds Tell a Tale	199	(30)
Explaining the Inexplicable	229	(30)
Just Beneath the Surface	259	(20)
Closing the Case, for Now	279	(26)
Species of Sharks and Their Characteristics	305	(4)
Timeline of Terror	309	(4)
Bibliography	313	(8)
Index	321