Community Corner

Capitola News, 120 Years Ago Today: Man Wrestles Shark in Capitola Waters

On Oct. 29, 1891, the Los Angeles Herald reported on a man riding a shark in the ocean at Capitola Beach.

On this date (Oct. 29) in 1891, the Los Angeles Herald, Vol. 37, No. 9 reported the bizarre story pasted below.

According to the article, a 30- to 40-foot shark was caught in a fishing net off of Capitola Wharf. What happens next sounds mythical, dangerous, cruel and maybe a bit entertaining. But what it created, apparently, was the people of Capitola feeling completely unafraid to swim with sharks. Find out what it was for yourself below. 

Keep in mind that the largest-known great white sharks of all time barely breach the 30-foot mark. Whale sharks, which can break 50-feet in length, do not venture as far north as the Central Coast.

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Astride a Live Shark: Daring Feat of a California Swimming Teacher

That a man should take a ride on a live shark's back, apparently with all the delight of a wild cowboy breaking in an unruly mustang, would be difficult to believe unless circumstances were presented to verify it. Such an occurrence has really taken place, however, and at so short a distance from San Francisco that any doubting Thomas can easily satisfy himself by making a personal investigation.

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For the past few years the fishermen in the northern part of Monterey bay, near Santa Cruz, have been greatly annoyed by basking sharks. These sharks, while in search of food, often run into the nets of fishermen, and in thrashing about and trying to escape from the meshes which enfold them, tear the nets and injure them: so that the fishermen at times suffer the loss of hundreds of dollars. Sometimes a shark struggles about so much in the water as to wrap the nets around it in such a manner that escape is impossible, and the huge fish dies from the exhaustion produced by its wild efforts to get free. To extricate the dead fish from the nets it is sometimes necessary to tow it ashore, and to recover part of the loss sustained in the destruction of the nets the fishermen try out the liver of the shark and obtain a quantity of cheap but profitable oil.

AN OCULAR DEMONSTRATION.
A huge basking shark about thirty or forty feet long became entangled in the nets of some fishermen off Soquel point, about four miles from Santa Cruz. The shark, still alive and enfolded in the nets, was towed by the fishermen in boats to the wharf at Capitola. Its arrival created great excitement among the visitors at that resort. The fact that sharks, any sharks, were near the beach drove hundreds of bathers from the water, and people began to make up their minds to leave the place. No amount of assurance on the part of the proprietors of the hotel or the fishermen that basking sharks were not man eaters, and that many had been caught with no accident happening, could entirely quiet the fears of the visitors, and bathing was almost given up.

Some ocular demonstration of the fact that a basking shark was harmless therefore became necessary. Swimming Teacher Swanson, of the Capitola baths, then determined to give an exhibition with the shark which should convince the most timid. A performance followed the like of which no man ever participated in before. Swanson put on a bathing suit and swam to the wharf where the partially exhausted monster lay, still partly wrapped in the torn and tangled fishing nets. Slowly approaching the gasping yet enraged monster, a whale in size if not in species, Swanson swam close to its side, and then clambered slowly on top, a moderately easy task to accomplish, as the shark lay almost entirely under water. Sitting astride the huge fish like a baby on an elephant, the bold swimmer shouted in triumphant derision at the several hundred people on the wharf, who had gathered to witness the strange performance.

GOT USED TO IT.
His song of success was quickly cut short, for as soon as the lazy shark realized it had gathered something more on its back it commenced to thrash about and threw Swanson off. Women in the crowd shrieked in fear and men held their breath in excitement. It was hardly a minute, however, before Swanson appeared uninjured and laughing outside of the line of foam caused by the shark's struggles. The crowd on the wharf breathed more freely when they saw the man emerge from the seething waters and realized that he had not been devoured, as they expected him to be. The undaunted swimmer again went to the side of the shark, and once more mounted his marine steed. The shark again showed its fear and anger by shaking him off, but not so violently as before. With great persistence Swanson again climbed on to the monster.

What seemed before to the many spectators a most foolhardy act, and but the courtship of certain death, now became a strangely comical sight. Swanson mounted the fish, and the shark becoming accustomed to its queer burden, merely rolled the man off each time he got on its back, simply turning lazily in the water and shaking himself. This was repeated several times, and the large crowd of people who came expecting to see the man killed and eaten departed laughing at the ludicrous ending of the performance. Swanson became the hero of the camp. Bathing was resumed and even more freely indulged in as a consequence of the exhibition, and no one can now be found in Camp Capitola who will admit that they fear a shark, or a basking shark at least.

What do you make of this wild story? Can you believe people actually felt comfortable swimming with sharks after this? Tell us in the comments!


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here