200kg Great White Shark jumps into 5.5m Formosa boat

It’s not everyday that a 2.7m-long Great White Shark weighing about 200kg leaps from the water and lands in your boat. But that is exactly what happened in the freak accident that left a lone local fisherman from Evans Head stunned, bleeding, and calling for help.

On Saturday afternoon on May 27, 2017, the NSW Marine Rescue base at Evans Head received a distress call on Channel 16 on the VHF marine radio from lifelong fisho Terry Selwood (73), who was approximately one nautical mile SSE of Snapper Heads.

A Great White Shark had jumped in his boat and was wreaking mayhem, repeatedly smacking down the angler, who was now perched on the gunwale with injuries.

NSW Marine Rescue recruit Lance Fountain, crew mate Scott Mohr and the skipper Bill Bates responded to the call for help by launching the Evans Three Zero. They proceeded at speed across the notorious river bar before setting a course for the distressed boat, angler and shark.

Upon arriving at the location, Evans 30 found the stunned fisherman standing on the portside gunwale covered in blood, with numerous lacerations on his right forearm.

A large shark was also found in the cabin of the not-so-large 5.5-metre Formosa boat.

The fisherman was quickly transferred onto the deck of Evans 30 where his injuries were immediately assessed and treated.

Evans 30 then came about and immediately set course for Evans Head. While en route to base, the lucky fisherman explained what had happened.

A SHARKNADO OUT OF THE BLUE
Mr Selwood says he was sitting on an esky in the centre of his boat when suddenly, without the faintest hint of a warning, the 2.7 metre Great White Shark jumped out of the water.

The ken angler wasn’t berleying, but just minding his own business with a few pieces of pilchard bait on the bottom under his boat.

"I was using two little bits of blue pilchard to fish for snapper on the bottom of the ocean, but that line was straight under the boat, not out the back where he came from," he told the ABC.

"For some unknown reason he just launched himself out of the water and he must have come up four feet out of the water to clear my outboard motor and drop straight in the boat."

The free jumping Great White Shark cleared the engine and landed smack bang on the deck, where it violently thrashed about. In the process, it knocked the stunned 73-year old fisherman onto the deck.

Fighting to get to his feet, and as far away from the shark as possible, Mr Selwood was knocked down on the deck and cabin a number of times. This is how he sustained most of his injuries.

Eventually he was able to clamber up onto the portside gunwale of his boat where he remained while the shark continued to thrash about in the cockpit.

The fisherman was able to contact the Evans Head Marine Rescue Tower on Channel 16 via a handheld VHF marine radio and the rescue was initiated and coordinated.

MARINE RESCUE CREW
Upon arriving at the public pontoon in Evans Head, the local Police and Ambulance crews were waiting. The Westpac Rescue helicopter was dispatched, landing nearby.

The fisherman was safely handed over to the care of the Ambos where he was transported to Lismore Base Hospital.

The crew of Evans Three Zero then proceeded back to Snapper to recover the fisherman’s boat.

The boat, along with the 2.7 metre Great White Shark, was towed safely through the bar in the darkness of the night to the public pontoon, where friends and family of the fisherman secured and retrieved the boat.

Thankfully the fisherman only suffered fright and a number of lacerations from the shark’s abrasive skin, although he thought he’d broken his arm.

GREAT WHITES ON THE INCREASE
The hapless shark was handed over to DPI and verified as a Great White Shark, where it was to be analysed and used for research.

Great White Sharks are listed as vulnerable and migratory under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

However, as this free jumper perhaps attests, their numbers appear to have increased around Australia’s coastline, with more and more encounters by fishermen.

Mr Selwood told the ABC he had been fishing for close to 60 years, but had never had been through anything like this.

"I've had 'em come up and brush the side of my boat, I've had a white pointer swim around my boat, I've had 'em take fish off my line, but I've never had one do this," he said.

"It won't deter me from fishing, no way in the world," the keen fisho said, desperate to get back out to wet a line.

More from NSW Marine Rescue on Using your Marine Radio.