Posted on 09/15/2018 3:16:51 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
WELLFLEET -- An unidentified man died Saturday after being bitten by a shark some 300 yards south of Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, town police confirmed. His name was being withheld until notification of next of kin; the Boston Globe identified him as a 26-year-old from Revere, and attributed that information to state police. The attack happened at about 12:30 p.m. Newcomb Hollow is a town-managed beach on property owned by Cape Cod National Seashore. “Around noontime [Saturday] a male swimmer at Newcomb Hollow Beach was bitten by what is believed to be a shark. The male victim [in his] mid 20s was pulled from the water, [and rescuers] provided emergency first aid to include CPR. The male victim was transported to Cape Cod Hospital by the Wellfleet Fire Department, where he passed from the injuries,” the Seashore said in a statement. A sign at Newcomb Hollow warns swimmers of the presence of sharks; this is the case at almost all back shore beaches.
It was the second shark attack on a swimmer off Cape waters this season: on Aug. 15 a New York man was bitten in the waters off Long Nook Beach in Truro. He survived but was seriously injured. State biologist and shark researcher Greg Skomal determined that the Truro shark was a great white, based on the victim’s bite marks. It isn’t known yet whether the Newcomb Hollow shark was a great white. The last fatal shark attack in the Commonwealth happened in 1936. The Cape Codder will have full coverage and local reaction in an upcoming report.
Here’s to swimmin with bow legged women
The article is not poorly written. It was perfectly clear. The readers projected there assumptions onto the article. User error.
The article is not poorly written. It was perfectly clear. The readers projected there assumptions onto the article. User error.
It’s because of the seals. The whackos at Woods Hole have allowed the seal population to go unchecked.
My daughter and her friends were at this beach a month ago, and witnessed and videoed a great white attacking and eating a seal.
I used to surf these beaches all the time, no more.
The environmentalists have made it completely unsafe.
This guys blood is on their heads.
Ain’t no surfing in fresh water, dude.
“Front, BOW! Back, STERN! Better get it right, squirt! I trow yer arse out da little round window on da SIDE!”
One of the people we take on fishing charters lives in Truro, and told me last year when he was lobster diving in Provincetown on the Bay side he saw a white shark cruising by him and he won't dive there anymore.- Tom
The tough part is those little itty bitty Breakers 3" tall.😀
I grew up on the Cape and we swam off (what used to be) North Beach in Chatham, Nauset, Truro and Welfleet all summer, every summer. We never saw a seal. Ever. Hence, we never saw a shark.
Admittedly- this was in the previous century;)
My friends that still live there pretty much avoid swimming in those places now. They swim off the bay beaches.
I received a call from Mike Pierdinock who is on several fishing panels and very knowledgeable on fisheries and fisheries management. Especially here in Mass.
He told me on Cape Cod the seal population in the year 2,000 was 1500 seals. Drone surveys show that has exploded to 70,000 seals (seventy thousand) in 2018,on Cape Cod. 30,000 of those seals are on Muskeegut Island off Nantucket
The Feds attitude is nothing will be done about the seals until they reach numbers from Maine to Florida that were the same when the Pilgrims arrived. So there will be no relief from the Feds who have seals protected.
The seal excrement has affected cod with worms and is affecting haddock. Not to mention the amount of fin fish eaten by the seals.
What might change some minds is shellfish beds have been affected by bird flu from seal defecation.
No question our ecosystem in Mass. is out of balance with the seal population exploding. - Tom
On the contrary, I’ve seen Great Lakes surfing before, and not always in ferry wakes lol.
Wow, I had no idea the seal population was so high now, and the damage to fishing and the eco-system. Thanks for the information.
The Cape was a wonderful place to grow up...I’m so fortunate. Today, I wouldn’t even go for vacation - the changes break my heart.
The seals have spread around Provincetown into Mass. Bay and the white sharks have increased in the Mass. Bay area.
People who surf fish down the Cape have learned , when the seals are present, and they hookup on a striper or bluefish , not to put a bend in the fishing rod as some of the seals have made the association with seeing a bent rod to a fish being brought in, and the seals will swim over and attack the fish. - Tom
I surfed Orleans beach in the summer back when I was 15. Fog would be so thick sometimes you couldn’t see the shore from beyond the breakers.
Never gave a thought to sharks. Couldn’t pay me to do it now.
Did anyone see the video of the rescue of this poor guy, they were walking him off the beach. He was being carried by a group of people. Since he died later, I’m guessing he bled to death. If time is of the essency, why didn’t they drive a vehicle to him????
I can only speculate the beach was closed after labor day and no vehicle capable of driving on sand was available.
It is almost certain his femoral artery was severed in his leg, or legs, and he would bleed to death in a matter of minutes.
The man attacked a few weeks earlier in that same area of the Cape survived because his femoral artery was not severed. -tom
The Greenland Shark which is a related to the Great White often is found in the St Lawrence River. I’ve read the Greenland Shark though is not very aggressive.
Wow! that’s really cool!
A standing wave?
Hilarious!
“I surfed Orleans beach in the summer back when I was 15. Fog would be so thick sometimes you couldn’t see the shore from beyond the breakers.”
Yeah, I remember days like that, slightly disconcerting.
Me and my buds used to night surf at Cahoons after a few beers at the Beachcomber. Boy was that dumb.
“Never gave a thought to sharks. Couldn’t pay me to do it now.”
Exactly.
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