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Informationen zum Autor Nico Medina is the author of more than a dozen books in the Who HQ series, including What Was World War I? , Who Was Jacques Cousteau? , and Where Is the Great Barrier Reef? He spent many of his childhood summer days in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, the "Shark Bite Capital of the World," where Jaws always seemed to be playing on TV. Klappentext "On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-three-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water at Beach Haven, New Jersey--the first recorded shark attack in American history. Scientists claimed a shark could not be responsible, but more deadly attacks soon followed along the Jersey Shore and up the freshwater Matawan Creek, setting off a nationwide panic that led the White House to declare a war on sharks"-- Leseprobe What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916? July 11, 1916—-Matawan, New Jersey Fourteen--year--old Rensselaer “Renny” Cartan Jr. was sweating. It was almost two o’clock—-the hottest time of day, and Renny had been working at his dad’s lumber and coal business since morning. Usually around now, the factory owners and shopkeepers of Matawan, New Jersey, allowed their young employees a quick break to cool off in the creek. Soon enough, Renny was released from his work duties. He met his younger cousin Johnson, who stocked shelves at his dad’s department store. The boys met some friends and headed down Main Street. The factories along Matawan Creek manufactured a wide variety of goods, from candy and matches to pianos and pottery. The creek was also used to transport fresh produce to New York City, thirty miles away. But for Renny and his buddies, Matawan Creek was a place to have fun. The boys headed down the creek’s muddy embankment. Their favorite spot was a small cove at a bend in the creek, a sort of private swimming hole. It was next to the old limeworks, a processing plant where mountains of oyster shells had once been crushed into powder. But industry and pollution had killed off the area’s oysters, and the limeworks had closed. Within seconds of arriving, the boys had tossed their clothes into the grass and leaped naked into the water. Recent heavy rains had kicked up sediment from the creek bed, making the water murkier than usual. But who cared how muddy the water was, as long as it was cool? Renny climbed onto a dock piling. As he joked with his friends, he began to lose his balance. He had no idea as he fell what awaited him beneath the surface. The water was neck--deep. Suddenly, Renny was clipped by a huge, hard object whooshing in front of him. Sharp pricks of pain bloomed across his chest. The water around him turned red. Panic washed over Renny. Wide--eyed, he spotted the largest fish he’d ever seen. It was a shark ! Swimming in the creek among his friends! Renny screamed and rushed out of the water. His chest was bleeding from wounds caused by the shark’s abrasive skin. Sharks’ bodies are covered by V--shaped, toothlike scales called denticles that help them swim quickly and quietly. Sharkskin is so rough, it was once used as sandpaper. On shore, Renny’s friends tried to calm him. No one else had seen the shark. Maybe a branch had scraped Renny. But Renny knew he’d been struck by a shark, just like those two men at the Jersey Shore. Five days earlier, in the seaside resort town of Spring Lake, a man was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean when he was brutally attacked and killed by a shark. Five days before that, another man had been killed in Beach Haven. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the United States, and it was all over the nation’s newspapers. But Matawan was a mile upriver from the closest body of salt water. How could a shark hav...
