The Sea Tiger

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
​In March 1915, a tourist visiting from Connecticut went fishing off Soldier Key in Biscayne Bay. The shallow waters were clear with an aquamarine tint, so it was easy to make out the 12-foot shark he had on the other end of his fishing line. 

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The headline of the "grewsome" remains found inside a shark c.1915

Harry Sanford not only landed that one shark, but eight others. The newspaper article referred to it as a leopard shark, which are not found in Florida waters, but it was probably a tiger shark, which are known as man-eaters. This was horribly confirmed when the shark was gutted at the Royal Palm dock since it was the largest of all those caught that day. Inside it were human remains.

Some wondered if the man had fallen from an ocean steamer or if he swam out too far out from a beach. Authorities said the bodies of anyone drowned in the area of Soldier Key had been recovered. So who was this shark's last meal?

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Gruesome remains of some horrible sea tragedy were today found when, in cutting open a huge shark off Soldier Key, the skull and several other bones of a man were found. The bones were all highly polished indicating that they had been in the shark's stomach for months, possibly years. The other bones found included a shoulder blade, one of the thigh bones, an upper arm bone and a finger bone. The size of the bones indicated to the authorities that the victim of the shark was a man, and the shape of the skull shows that he was a white man. The bones were all removed to the Combs Undertaking rooms.

Tiger shark found to have a large amount of human remains in its stomach c.2010

However this was not the first time a huge shark was landed at Soldier Key, which is about 4 miles east of Fowey Rocks Lighthouse. In 1909, Captain Thompson landed a 15-foot hammerhead shark as it was eating a big whip ray. In 1916,  another 15-foot hammerhead shark was landed from the yacht Vixen as it traveled back from the Florida Keys.

In 2010, the encounter was with a 12-foot tiger shark. The fisherman didn't have to wait until it was opened up before it was known the fish was a man eater.

The Bahamian investment banker Humphrey Simmons was fishing off the coast of New Providence, Bahamas on the Azulardo. He and two other companions had been dodging sharks all day long, who were pursuing the fish they were bringing in. The three men went to another fishing spot at about 1,000 feet of depth. Simmons was bringing in a grouper. when he caught the shark as well. He intended to release it, but once he brought it close he realized it was too heavy to bring on board the boat. The shark was shot several times and hauled by its tail to the boat to cut out the hook. This is when the fish regurgitated a human foot, intact from the knee down.

They tried to raise an agency on the VHF radio, but decided they were too far out. They took the body part and the shark back to a marine base.

"There was so much stink coming from the shark’s belly and the belly was so huge that we thought that there might be more bodies inside," said Simmons.

Inside were found a right leg, two severed arms and a severed torso. It was a full human body without a head, which accounted for the shark's distended abdomen. There was a suspicion the remains belonged to Delton Judson Newton one of two men who disappeared while swimming to the ironically named, Jaws Beach. This was where the 1987 sequel Jaws: The Revenge was filmed. Five men had gone boating on August 2010, when they ran into engine trouble. Two of the men decided to swim to Jaws Beach, and this was the last time they were seen alive by the three crewmen left on the boat. It was believed they had drowned.

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What was found inside tiger shark, believed to be sailor drowned near Jaw's Beach in the Bahamas c.2010

The medical examiner sent the remains for a forensic examination, which only concluded the parts were indeed human, but could not determine the manner of death. Fingerprints indicated the identity of the man was Judson Newton, but DNA confirmed the finding. His sample when compared to four relatives concluded the "mother of one of the missing fishermen cannot be excluded as the biological mother of the individual associated with the bone and tissue."

Due to the short time between the death of the man and recovery of the remains (August to October) is believed to have contributed to the ability to actually identify the remains, which is a rare thing when anything is taken from a shark's stomach.

This species of shark is known as the "sea tiger" and is one of the most dangerous shark species, growing as large as 16 feet. Human remains when they are found, are mostly found inside of tiger sharks. It's believed the sharks scavenge drowning victims, but they will attack a human who is thrashing about in the ocean. They can digest bones very quickly, and they can also vomit out undigested items, which is why it's very rare to recover anything that can be used for DNA comparison.

Friends of Newton, who was also known as "Scabbo" said they were surprised to think he would have drowned, since he was a sailor by trade and an avid fisherman. The 43-year-old was not married or had children.

The man who jumped in the water with Newton, Franklin Roosevelt Brown, 62, was never found and the authorities believed he ended up the same as his friend.

​The question remains: was he alive when the shark took the first bite as he made his desperate swim to Jaws Beach?

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12-foot tiger shark caught off Thursday Island, Australia c.1900-1909

Tiger sharks are found worldwide in warm and tropical waters, along coastal areas, river estuaries, harbors, shallow bays, coral reefs, seagrass beds and the open ocean at depths of 1,085 feet and more. They've been spotted in the waters of the Gulf of America, along the coast from Florida to the Carolinas and throughout the Caribbean Sea. They range into the western Pacific Ocean, and have been sighted as far north as Japan and south by New Zealand. These sharks also frequent the coasts of Africa, India, Australia, China, Indonesia and the Red Sea. They are known to follow the warmer Gulf Stream waters northward to the coasts of the United Kingdom and Iceland.

In 1916, it was written that when a Hawaiian saw a shark near the surface with eyes which "shine red as though they had red glass in them" he will not go in the water or even on the water. If he's in the water he will come ashore, since the red-eyed fish is the tiger shark. According to Hawaiians this species of shark is known to attack a man in the water, and they will follow a fisherman in a canoe after he has taken a lot of fish aboard  and overturn a canoe if they are hungry.

Laverne is the name given to a tiger shark seen in the waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The name originated with local divers and boat captains which evolved into a code name for any tiger shark entering the harbor waters. The current "Laverne" is estimated to be around 16 feet long and about 20 years old. She has been a fixture in the area for years. Her fame comes from her tameness and familiarity with humans, and she is fed by local fishermen. In 2013 she was injured by a Hawaiian local, who damaged her dorsal fin, however she can still be seen swimming in the harbor waters.

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Hardie's Casino, Miami Beach where a 15-foot tiger shark was caught in shallow waters near bathers c.1923

TIGER SHARK ENCOUNTERS

In 1882, stevedores in Mobile Bay, Alabama caught a 15-foot tiger shark. Inside was a human arm covered with a blue woolen jumper. They believed the remains were those of Augustus Froget engineer of the tug Colonel Woodruff, who drowned in the bay the week before.

In 1897, Harry Thiem a snapper fisherman was lying at anchor off Yellow Bluff near the Pensacola coast when an object came within 200 yards of the boat.

The men on board said it was a tiger shark measuring about 35 feet in length, with the head about five feet wide. Old fishermen who were on board, said it was the largest fish of this species they had ever seen.

In 1908, William McCormick had a lucky encounter with a tiger shark, if there is such a thing. He was fishing near Ponce Park on the east coast of Florida, and had just baited his hook and thrown it out. He was stooping over the side of the boat washing his hands when a monster tiger shark grabbed one hand and would not release it. It took the combined strength of two companions to keep the shark from pulling him overboard.

In 1921, Captain Charles H. Thompson of the Tarpon was cruising along the beach with a party of friends. Several tarpons were jumping in the air. One weighing 145 pounds was caught and a tiger shark measuring about 15 feet tried to take it off the line. The shark was shot in rather shallow water. It was towed to Hardie's Casino, a bathing pavilion in Miami Beach with pools, private rooms, clubs, but no gambling. Onlookers were horrified to think they had been bathing only a few feet from the shark. The casino was destroyed by the Great Hurricane of 1926. 

In 1976, shrimp boat captain Jimmy Ramsey landed a 14-foot tiger shark, which was caught in his fishing nets. This was 12 miles off Galveston Island. Inside the 400-pound shark they found a jawbone, part of a skull, a hand, an arm and leg bones. The jawbone contained a full set of teeth with extensive dental repairs and gold caps. The remains were turned over to the Coast Guard.

In 1982, two men went on an all night fishing trip off Hollywood Beach, and caught a tiger shark weighing over 360 pounds and measuring over 9 feet in length. Inside it they found a pair of human legs. The right leg had on a sock and an Adidas tennis shoe. There was a thigh portion of the left leg.

The M.E. examined the parts and believed the limbs were those of a white male in his early 20s, weighing about 190 pounds between 5'11" and 6 feet in height. The cause of death was unknown. It was estimated he was dead between a day to four days before. There were no missing person reports or shark attacks that matched the victim. The person remained unknown.

Only a few months before in February, 1982 Kim Seibel, 29, a diver from Homestead, Florida went missing after he was separated from a companion while spearfishing five miles off Elliott Key. His body was not found but his mask, flipper and bathing suit were found with at least 50 teeth marks on them. It was believed he died as a result of a shark attack, possibly a Mako, but it was never ascertained what killed him.

Stories of monster sharks have existed since time immemorial, including those that are known to attack boats. Many could claim the stories are fishermen's yarns, products of mistaken identity or over-active imagination. However one cannot deny they might not be numerous, but there is a chance these monsters do swim in deep waters, and these smaller cousins like the tiger sharks who prefer warmer waters, are just hunting for an aperitif, which are occasionally humans.

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