his eventful life capturing these predatory sea-beasts. But Captain
Young also relates many instances to show that sharks, especially those
in tropical waters, are extremely dangerous and ferocious and provided
with an unpredictable temper. They have been known to attack small
boats; in one case a five and one-half inch live oak rudder post was bent
and splintered by the powerful jaws of an enraged shark. (2p. 246-249)

Fortunately for those who enjoy bathing in the surf, sharks have
not developed a taste for human blood. Otherwise, no beach along the
Atlantic Coast would be safe for bathing, for numerous species of sharks
migrate northward during the summer following their favorite food, the
menhaden. For many years few fishermen knew that the larger sharks
were plentiful in the seething waters along Cape Cod, although, in past
centuries, whalers used to seek the shark there to obtain shark liver oil for
rheumatic pains. (2 p. 131)

These northern fishermen, however, knew all about dogfish
which are true sharks and plentiful at all times. Dogfish when full-grown
average only about four feet in length but they destroy so many fishing
nets that they have become extremely unpopular. A custom among
fishermen, when taking a dogfish, is to break its nose upward. The fish
then cannot dive and thus must spend its last hours swimming helplessly
on the surface until it falls prey to one of its kin. (2 p. 132)