12 People Who Fought Off Sharks
12. Bruce Grimes
In 2008, Bruce Grimes was attacked by a vicious bull shark in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, but swam away with comparably mild injuries. Grimes, an American ex-pat living in Mexico, had surfed in those waters for years, even setting up a surf shop right on the beach.
Like many attacks, this one happened when he was taking a break from the waves and bobbing on his board.
Grimes felt a bump from below and realized immediately that he was in danger. The seasoned surfer started to paddle slowly back to shore, but he wasn’t quick enough.
The bull shark came back up for a second bump, this time gripping his hand and lower arm. Incredibly, the attacks stopped, allowing an injured Grimes to paddle back to shore for medical care quickly.
100 stitches later, Grimes was almost as good as new, but then he heard some news that rocked him to his core. A bull shark attacked and killed a man on that very same beach just the day before, making Grimes’ mild encounter all the more incredible.
11. Achmat Hassiem
In 2006, Achmat Hassiem’s heroism cost him part of his right leg and gave him a newfound respect for the ocean and the animals in it.
Hassiem was training to be a lifeguard in Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, South Africa when a 16-foot predator set its sights on his brother. The bloodthirsty great white was almost as long as your average giraffe is tall, so it took an epic act of bravery for Hassiem to divert the shark from his brother’s path by splashing around and distracting it.
Before the shark could dive and attack his sibling from below, Hassiem successfully got its attention. Hassiem’s brother was rescued, but Hassiem wasn’t so lucky.
The great white tore into his leg, severing part of it, but fortunately granting Hassiem his life. Number 10
10. Bethany Hamilton
What do you do when a 15-foot long tiger shark tears off your left arm in open water? If you’re Bethany Hamilton, you get right back into professional surfing.
In 2003, Hamilton was surfing at Tunnels Beach, Hawaii, when a massive apex predator the length of your average SUV wrenched off her arm as it was dangling in the water. Fortunately, her best friend’s dad was able to MacGyver a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash and stabilize Hamilton.
Although Hamilton wound up losing her arm, she did make a full recovery. She was right back in the water 30 short days later and won her first national title the following year.
Talk about facing your fears!
9. Hannah Mighall
In 2009, Hannah Mighall was surfing in Binalong Bay, Tasmania, when a freak encounter with a ferocious fish left her reeling. A 16-foot great white shark latched onto her leg and dragged her beneath the depths, at least two times, before her cousin Syb smashed the shark over its head repeatedly. Fortunately, the vicious predator loosened its grip and let 14-year-old Mighall loose, leaving her with deep wounds all over her upper leg.
Thanks to her cousin’s quick thinking, Mighall was able to not only survive the ordeal but make a full recovery.
8. Paul De Gelder
Are one of the ocean’s most fearsome and aggressive creatures.
Just ask Paul De Gelder, who barely survived an encounter with one during an anti-terrorism exercise in 2009. The Australian sailor was participating in a routine Navy exercise when the bull shark ambushed him, severing part of his right arm and leg.
Fortunately, De Gelder had the presence of mind to punch the shark and free himself from its deadly clutches. Ironically, De Gelder hated sharks before the attack, but he changed his tune after losing several body parts to one.
He began researching how sharks contribute to our ecosystem and is now an advocate for the very creatures who almost took his life.
7. Matt Bowen
Matt Bowen’s Australian vacation took a dark turn in 2009 when he ran afoul of a 10-foot-long bull shark while exploring a shipwreck.
The aggressive animal was as long as two refrigerators stacked end to end, and it wasn’t playing around. Bowen initially thought that his scuba partner was playing a harmless joke on him but then realized that his calf was entirely in the mouth of the behemoth.
Fortunately, he freed his leg and propelled himself to the surface, where he was rescued and immediately rushed to the hospital.
The lucky Brit was left with a foot-long wound on his leg; no doubt, not the souvenir he was hoping to bring back home with him.
6. Henri Bource
Henri Bource’s harrowing tangle with a denizen of the deep is so infamous because it was captured on camera. In 1964, Bource was filming seals at Lady Julia Percy Island near Victoria, Australia, when suddenly the adorable water doggos vanished, and Bource was left with a different, deadlier subject matter- a great white shark.
Bource directed his crew to keep filming throughout the attack as the shark savaged his left leg. Although Bource lost his lower leg, he didn’t lose his courage and he was right back in the water a mere 6 weeks later. He also turned his trauma into documentary gold with the 1969 movie Savage Shadows
5. Sir Brook Watson
Sir Brook Watson’s ordeal is memorialized in the painting Watson and the Shark, and his tale lives on in Havana lore to this day. In 1749, when he was just 14 years old, Watson went for a refreshing dip in the Havana harbor, only to come face to face with one of nature’s most fearsome predators.
Unlike many other shark attacks, the brute didn’t just bite Watson; it dragged him underwater, pulling him out into the open sea. Fortunately, luck was on Watson’s side.
The harbor was full of boats, and one acted quickly to save his life. They rushed to his aid in the nick of time, just as the shark was going in for the third attack.
As the shark lunged forward for the death blow, a sailor harpooned the creature, saving Watson and inspiring one of the greatest paintings of all time.
4. Andrew Carter
Andrew Carter is the only known person to survive a double great white shark attack, and his tale is as harrowing as they come. In 1994, Carter was surfing off the coast of South Africa when his idyllic morning turned horrific in a matter of seconds.
The shark ambushed Carter from behind, clamping down on his right leg between his hip and knee and inflicting severe lacerations with jaws that Carter remembers being at least 4 feet wide.
That’s as long as your average fourth grader is tall. While most sharks inflict a “test bite” and swim away, this monster had other ideas. It came back for a second round, and miraculously Carter was able to jam his surfboard in its mouth before surfing, mangled, back to shore.
Tragically, Carter’s friend perished in an attack by the same shark, making Carter’s story all the more remarkable and awful.
3. Martin Richardson
In 1996 Martin Richardson had two unlikely encounters; one terrifying, one amazing. Richardson was swimming with Red Sea dolphins when a shark decided to join in, but the newcomer had no intention of playing nice. Instead, the shark latched onto Richardson’s left arm, clamping down twice as Richardson tried in vain to fend it off.
With a chunk of his arm missing, and blood gushing into the water, Richardson was in a dire predicament until help came in the most unlikely form. The dolphins he was swimming with circled around him, protecting him from the shark by flapping their fins and shooing the unwelcome predator away.
Although dolphins regularly protect each other this way, it’s highly unlikely for them to intervene on behalf of another creature, making Richardson’s experience one for the history books.
2. Todd Endris
Todd Endris’ 2007 tale started off delightful but then took a devastating turn when a great white brutally attacked him. The 24-year-old surfer was out in Monterey Bay, California, when he decided to rest about 225 feet from the shore to watch some frolicking dolphins.
His moment of leisure cost him big time when a great white attacked from below, throwing him a full 15 feet into the air. Before he could get his bearings or get back on his surfboard, the shark furiously bit his back and legs.
Fortunately, the playful dolphins intervened in a rare act that clearly saved Endris’ life. 6 dolphins surrounded him, shielding him from the shark and creating enough of a diversion that the predator released Endris’ leg and allowed him to get safely back to shore.
1. Rodney Fox
In 1963, Rodney Fox cheated death by surviving one of the most severe shark attacks in modern recorded history. The Australian-born filmmaker crossed paths with a great white while he was participating in the South Australian Spear Fishing Championship on Aldinga Beach.
The brutal attack left Fox with a shredded lung, punctured diaphragm, and broken ribs, as well as an astounding loss of blood. A single shark tooth was even lodged in his wrist. Hundreds of stitches later, Fox returned to the ocean to study the very animals that had nearly cost him his life.
He designed an underwater observation tank, the first of its kind, to interact with great white sharks safely and conducted expeditions and research to study the sea’s most dangerous animals.
Today, he’s a leading conservationist and expert in great white shark behavior, a fitting and thrilling capstone to his own near-death encounter.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather go head to head with one of Cape Town’s notorious great white sharks or have to fight for your life against 3 aggressive bull sharks? Let us know in the comments section below. People Who Fought Off Sharks
