Sunderland Man..........

[mackem 23,785]

British diver tells of swimming almost five miles to escape shark

 

John Craig, originally from Sunderland, was followed by a 4-metre tiger shark while spearfishing in Western Australia

 

A British diver has described how he swam four-and-a-half miles for his life after being circled by a 4-metre (13ft) tiger shark off the coast of Australia.

John Craig, 34, from Sunderland, said he was spearfishing with a friend near Shark Bay in Western Australia when he got into difficulty and lost sight of his boat.

The experienced diver, who moved to Australia two years ago, described his panic as he was left stranded alone in open water.

“I was trying to splash and scream and shout to get my friend’s attention,” he told BBC Breakfast. “All of the splashing, I could feel my heart rate up because I was panicking that I had been left, and after about five or 10 minutes of this I just put my head in the water to check I was still in the same place, and then at arm’s reach there was this huge 4-metre tiger shark …

“It was at that moment I realised, I have just got to forget about the boat and go totally into survival mode.”

He continued: “I just kept my head in the water, watched what the big tiger shark was doing, and it kept coming back towards me. It would circle me and kind of dart in and I just had to use my spear gun to try and fend it off and try and keep it at a safe distance.

“I knew the boat wasn’t coming back, so my only option was to swim to shore, and I knew it was 7.5km [4.7 miles] to get to the beach, and that’s an awful long swim with a 4-metre-long tiger shark.”

Craig, who has worked as a diving instructor for 10 years, said the shark followed him closely as he swam to the shore.

 

He said: “I started to swim away and then the shark just kept pace behind me, so every time I looked back I could see its huge head right next to my fins and I just had my spear gun pointed at my fins so it couldn’t get close enough to actually touch them, and then it would disappear into the gloom, it would go down and then try and come up below me and up from the sides. It was all because I was panicking

After a few minutes, he added, the shark accelerated and started swimming beside him – but it appeared it was no longer trying to attack him. “it was kind of escorting me to shore”.

Craig was spotted from the air and picked up by a boat from the Shark Bay Volunteer Marine Rescue.

Despite his hair-raising experience, Craig said he would not want to put people off Shark Bay as a diving and snorkelling destination.

“These animals are apex predators, but we are not on the menu,” he said. “We need them in the oceans and, as much as it was scary at the time, I can only reflect on how beautiful that big female tiger shark was.”

The tiger shark is second only to the great white in number of attacks on humans, according to the International Shark Attack File from the Florida Museum of Natural History.

They are known to act with curiosity and aggression towards humans, and have been linked to a number of fatal attacks.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/23/british-diver-tells-of-swimming-almost-five-miles-to-escape-shark

 

 

[peterhunter86 8,627]

He probably told it he knew gnasher that's why it didn't eat him.

[Greyman 25,259]

First clue shark bay? Enough said

[Francie 6,362]

So i wonder if he was worthy of a rescue lol

[Tyla 3,179]

Fair play to the guy. Could you have kept your shit together through that?

[j j m 6,481]

not many live to tell the tale ,good on him

[TOMO 24,876]

fecking ozzys,,,,,cant count...there was that other boat that left a couple out at sea diving,,,,they did a film about it

[Born Hunter 17,638]

Clearly not a member of this great forum. A THLer would have tamed the beast and rode it back to shore like Poseidon, then once back at shore carved the big fish into steaks and dined like a hero....

 

Just saying

[Accip74 7,112]

4.5 miles? Wow! I would of been shark food within a hundred metres Haha........

[jukel123 6,570]

Mackem, why did you highlight the fact that he was from Sunderland? It reminds me of the famous headline in the Scotsman newspaper when The Titanic went down. " Titanic disaster, Aberdeen man feared drowned".

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,558]

I call bollocks on this

 

4 mile is about 300 lengths in a swimming pool

 

That's a big swim back!!!?

[lurcherman 887 12,679]

Me too!! didnt happen

[Born Hunter 17,638]

He'd have had fins and besides he didn't swim the whole way back, he was picked up.

 

Edited, no apparently he did swim back to land. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/22/man-swam-tiger-shark-dramatic-four-mile-chase/

Edited October 24, 2017 by Born Hunter

[Accip74 7,112]

Maybe a dolphin intervened & he hung on until safe?

[king 11,664]

I bet that diver kept wishing he had Sunderland hardest man swimming with him.

I think if dogfox gave that shark 1 jab.

He would definately wind it.