Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916 - Attacks and Victims

Attacks and Victims

Between July 1 and July 12, 1916, five people were attacked along the coast of New Jersey by sharks; only one of the victims survived. The first attack occurred on Saturday, July 1 at Beach Haven, a resort town established on Long Beach Island off the southern coast of New Jersey. Charles Epting Vansant, 25, of Philadelphia was on vacation at the Engleside Hotel with his family. Before dinner, Vansant decided to take a quick swim in the Atlantic with a Chesapeake Bay Retriever that was playing on the beach. Shortly after entering the water, Vansant began shouting. Bathers believed he was calling to the dog, but a shark was actually biting Vansant's legs. He was rescued by lifeguard Alexander Ott, and bystander Sheridan Taylor who claimed the shark followed him to shore as they pulled the bleeding Vansant from the water. Vansant's left thigh was stripped of its flesh; he bled to death on the manager's desk of the Engleside Hotel at 6:45 p.m.

Despite the Vansant incident, beaches along the Jersey Shore remained open. Sightings of large sharks swarming off the coast of New Jersey were reported by sea captains entering the ports of Newark and New York City but were dismissed. The second attack occurred 45 miles (72 km) north of Beach Haven at the resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. The victim was Charles Bruder, 27, a Swiss bellhop at the Essex & Sussex Hotel. Bruder was killed on Thursday, July 6, 1916, while swimming 130 yards (120 m) from shore. A shark bit him in the abdomen and severed his legs; Bruder's blood turned the water red. After hearing screams, a woman notified a lifeguard that a canoe with a red hull had capsized and was floating just at the water's surface. Lifeguards Chris Anderson and George White rowed to Bruder in a lifeboat and realized he had been bitten by a shark. They pulled him from the water, but he bled to death on the way to shore. According to The New York Times, "women panic-stricken as mutilated body ... brought ashore." Guests and workers at the Essex & Sussex and neighboring hotels raised money for Bruder's mother in Switzerland.

The next two attacks took place in Matawan Creek near the town of Matawan on Wednesday, July 12. Located 30 miles (48 km) north of Spring Lake and 16 miles (26 km) inland, Matawan resembled a Midwestern town rather than an Atlantic beach resort. Matawan's location made it an unlikely site for shark attacks. When Thomas Cottrell, a sea captain and Matawan resident, spotted an 8 ft (2.40m) long shark in the creek, the town dismissed him. Around 2:00 p.m. local boys, including Lester Stillwell, 11, were playing in the creek at an area called the Wyckoff dock when they saw what appeared to be an "old black weather-beaten board or a weathered log." A dorsal fin appeared in the water and the boys realized it was a shark. Before Stillwell could climb from the creek, the shark attacked him and pulled him underwater.

The boys ran to town for help, and several men, including local businessman Watson Stanley Fisher, 24, came to investigate. Fisher and others dived into the creek to find Stillwell's body, and he was also attacked by the shark in front of the townspeople. Fisher was pulled from the creek without recovering Stillwell`s body. His right thigh was severely injured and he bled to death at Monmouth Memorial Hospital in Long Branch at 5:30 p.m. Stillwell's body was recovered 150 feet (46 m) upstream from the Wyckoff dock on July 14.

The fifth and final victim, Joseph Dunn, 14, of New York City was attacked a half-mile from the Wyckoff dock nearly 30 minutes after the attacks on Stillwell and Fisher. The shark bit his left leg, but Dunn was rescued by his brother and friend after a vicious tug-of-war battle with the shark. Joseph Dunn was taken to Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick; he recovered from the attack and was released on September 15, 1916.