Dog vs shark. Round 2.

Here we are at round two of the dog vs shark wars. Once I saw this picture of a happy pooch I hoped it ended in favour of the dog rather than the unfortunate Fluffy poodle of yesterday’s post.

The Daily News 26 Jul 1938 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83554914

In that post, and thanks to the ongoing amusement in the comments, we imagined a wife’s pampered poodle with an annoyingly tinkly bell on its collar being taken for a late night walk by a long-suffering husband.

We couldn’t really imagine too many ways that bell from a small dog’s collar made its way to the insides of the shark that those work-dodging police fishermen caught in 1911.

Even more unlikely was that a bell, heavily corroded from the digestive juices that had already consumed the poodle and the collar, would be ringing from the insides of a shark but we were willing to overlook that in support of an amusing story.

The Border Collie in this report was clearly made of sterner stuff than our imaginary Fluffy poodle.

In July 1938 he leapt from the pier at Queenscliff, grabbing a four-foot whip tailed shark in its mouth and swimming back to the landing. The shark was killed by fishermen but I really think that the dog was probably capable of doing it on its own, don’t you?

I hope that this dog didn’t ever overestimate its own abilities, imagine if it took on something bigger or a shark with a bigger friend lurking under the pier? Eeek!

Drunken fish. 1931.

Poor fish. Not like they had a choice really, is it? If an animal gets drunk it is usually because it has sought out an intoxicating substance.

Advocate 11 Mar 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67706603

In this case of drunken fish from South Carolina in 1931 the unsuspecting fish had two thousand barrels of bootleg whisky dumped right onto their heads.

The next day the people who went out fishing found themselves remarkably successful in their endeavours. So much so that it sounds like everything that floated was out there to drop in a line.

I wonder what is the best way to cook bootleg fish?

Human fish. 1890.

First up, can I say that I am amazed at the restraint from everyone who had anything to do with this article.

Border Watch 2 Sep 1890 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77491503

A fisherman hauls up a 6ft creature in his nets, it has a human-like face and torso and NOT ONCE did they use the m word.

After all the articles I have read that have dramatized anything that came from the waves with the slightest bit of humanness about it and immediately cried ‘mermaid!’ this is a refreshing change.

If you want to read about the way mermaids have been treated in other articles I have found have a look at vengeful mermaid, stuffed merpeople,  or Ballinakill mermaid.

You will quickly notice that being a human-like fish is not all it is cracked up to be. Not much sitting around on rocks, combing your hair and singing to the sailors. Generally your worst enemy is an oar swung in anger.

What I want to know is where on earth they got a jar of alcohol big enough to fit a 6ft fish into!

Explosive Octopus. 1948.

The print for this article is a bit hard to read, apologies, but I love it when I find an article with a title like that. Explosive Octopus. It just doesn’t get any better, does it?

Barrier Miner 14 Sep 1948 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48572592

Today we are joining a group of kids out for a bit of fishing at the end of the school holidays in 1948.

I expect they had no real aim that day except to have fun, and that’s just as well because their prize couldn’t really be taken home to mum for dinner.

Their catch? A grenade bearing octopus. Eeek!

You regular readers know what happens if she puts one of them in the oven, don’t you? It just can’t end well, can it?

I think these boys showed remarkable restraint. Generally when I find articles about kids and explosives they involve the kids doing some sort of damage to the explosive, and often being damaged in return.

I wonder how long this octopus had been clinging on to the grenade? Just as well it didn’t work out how it pull the pin, wasn’t it!

Weaponized shark. 1917.

Cairns Post 17 Jan 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40232837

Here is another ‘what the shark ate’ story. It always amazes me as to what sharks find appetizing.

I don’t know if the value of the penny and the half-crown, or even the silver medal, would outweigh the danger of reaching past the unexploded 22lb shell inside the belly of this shark.

I  wonder if the digestive juices of a shark will work to disarm a live shell or if the shark was just a bomb waiting to go off? Imagine the surprise of the fisherman if the catch of the day suddenly exploded when it was landed!

Octopus attack. 1906

The Mercury 22 Nov 1906 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12822912

Twelve thousand plus tentacles clinging onto your ship. Not a good day on the high seas.

I wonder if the two poisoned sailors were poisoned dead, or just poisoned sick?

Were large amounts of octopussies a common thing in Erquy Bay? If not this is an even more interesting event. Yeah, I know, octopussies is not a real word, but octopi and octopuses sound no better.

I tried looking for a collective noun for a group of octopus and it would appear that there isn’t really one. I think if you were on the wrong end of this small invasion in 1906 you might have gone for legion, army or horde. In my search I found someone suggesting a tangle of octopus. That works for me, I think the first word to mind when you saw a large group of octopus would be tangle.

What a great ‘one that got away’ tale for the fishermen, I doubt their day would usually involve beating off sea creatures with a hatchet. I sincerely hope one of the besieged sailors backed away from the side, up to the captain and said, ‘You’re going to need a bigger boat’.

If you know the actual term for a group of octopus please tell me!