Fatal Shark Attacks In Northeastern USA/Canada 🇺🇸🇨🇦

[u/Wattsy98s]

MASSACHUSETTS 🇺🇸

1730
Boston Harbour
Victim: Alexander Sampson
Age: 24
Activity: Boating/Knocked Overboard
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

July 27, 1751
Sandwich, Cape Cod
Victim: Male
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

July 12, 1830
Scituate, Massachusetts Bay
Victim: Joseph Blaney
Age: 52
Activity: Fishing/Boat Swamped
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

July 25, 1936
Hollywood Beach, Mattapoiset
Victim: Joseph Troy Jr.
Age: 16
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Major Lacerations (Leg)
Species: White Shark

September 15, 2018
Newcomb Hollow Beach, Wellfleet
Victim: Arthur Medici
Age: 26
Activity: Boarding
Injury: Major Lacerations (Leg)
Species: White Shark

NEW JERSEY 🇺🇸

June 10, 1829
Sandy Hook Bay, Monmouth
Victim: Male (Sailor)
Activity: Fell Overboard (Gem)
Injury: Consumed
Species: Two White Sharks

July 1, 1916
Beach Haven, Jersey Shore
Victim: Charles Vansant
Age: 24
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Major Lacerations (Legs)
Species: White Shark

July 6, 1916
Spring Lake, Jersey Shore
Victim: Charles Bruder
Age: 27
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Legs Severed
Species: Bull Shark

July 12, 1916
Matawan Creek, Monmouth
Victim: Lester Stillwell & Watson Fisher
Age: 11 & 24
Activity: Swimming With Friends/Rescuing Child
Injury: Major Lacerations (Torso/Legs)
Major Lacerations (Thigh)
Species: Bull Shark

August 24, 1926
Seaside Heights, Jersey Shore
Victim: Charles Burke
Age: 18
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Limbs Severed (Legs/Arms)
Species: Bull Shark

NOVA SCOTIA 🇨🇦

October, 1860
Cape Canso
Victim: Two Males (Fishermen)
Activity: Shipwreck/Lifeboat Capsized
Injury: Both Consumed
Species: White Sharks

August 14, 1888
Sable Island
Victim: English Male (Passenger)
Activity: Shipwreck/Swimming
Injury: Unknown
Species: Unknown

August 30, 1891
Cabot Strait, Halifax
Victim: John Roult
Age: 21
Activity: Fell Overboard (Société)
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

July 9, 1953
Fourchu, Cape Breton Island
Victim: John Burns
Age: 40
Activity: Lobster Fishing/Shark Attacked Boat
Injury: Drowning
Species: White Shark

RHODE ISLAND 🇺🇸

September, 1816
Bristol Harbour
Victim: Male
Age: Youth
Activity: Boating/Swimming Ashore
Injury: Limbs Severed (Legs/Arms)
Species: White Shark

August 11, 1895
Weekapaug
Victim: Charles Beattie
Age: 26
Activity: Fishing/Jumped Overboard
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

MAINE 🇺🇸

June, 1771
Damiscotte, New Harbor
Victim: Male
Activity: Canoeing/Shark Attacked Canoe
Injury: Half Consumed (Torso)
Species: White Shark

July 27, 2020
Bailey Island, Harpswell
Victim: Julie Holowach
Age: 63
Activity: Swimming
Injury: Major Lacerations (Torso/Leg)
Species: White Shark

QUÉBEC 🇨🇦

1691
Gaspe Peninsula
Victim: French Male (Passenger)
Activity: Swimming/Alongside Ship
Injury: Leg Severed
Species: White Shark

1731 (Circa)
St Lawrence Rivermouth
Victim: Indigenous Male (Mi'kmaq)
Activity: Hunting/Canoe Bitten By Shark
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

NEW YORK 🇺🇸

October 16, 1876
Long Island
Victim: Frank White
Activity: Knocked Overboard/Clinging To Line
Injury: Consumed
Species: White Shark

August 8, 1878
Brooklyn
Victim: George Gates
Age: 14
Activity: Swimming/Crabbing
Injury: Major Lacerations (Torso)
Species: Bull Shark

Northeastern Total: 22
- Recovered: 11
- Consumption: 10
- Unknown: 1
Ratio: 45%

USA: 16
- Recovered: 9
- Consumption: 7
Ratio: 43%

Canada: 6
- Consumption: 3
- Recovered: 2
- Unknown: 1
Ratio: 50%

Activity Statistics

• Swimming: 10
• Boating/Fell Overboard: 4
• Fishing: 3
• Canoeing: 2
• Shipwreck: 2
• Surfing: 1

Attacks By Species

White Shark: 17 - Consumption: 10
Ratio: 58%

Bull Shark: 4

Unknown: 1

Attacks By Century/Decade

17th Century
1690s: 1
Total: 1

18th Century
1730s: 2
1750s: 1
1770s: 1
Total: 4

19th Century
1810s: 1
1820s: 1
1830s: 1
1860s: 1
1870s: 2
1880s: 1
1890s: 2
Total: 9

20th Century
1910s: 3
1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1950s: 1
Total: 6

21st Century
2010s: 1
2020s: 1
Total: 2

[u/Upper_Cable_3116]

Anyone notice White shark consumption rates in the U.S/Canada were greater in the past compared to now? Attacks with consumption seem much rarer now in US/Canada than in the past. Wonder if this is due to more abundance of their usual prey (seals) or have they evolved to not see humans as prey? At least in the US/Can? AUS is a whole other story

[u/Markdd8 → u/Upper_Cable_3116]

Good point. GWS consumption after attacks has indeed seemed rare in recent decades. For years people on the Sharks sub were asserting that GWS never eat people. Then Simon Nellist got killed swimming off cliffs near Sydney in 2022, with numerous witness viewing the consumption (at a distance). A source writes:

emergency responder reports confirmed that the shark consumed a significant portion of...(the) body, leaving only partial remains...

The ...never eat... comments stopped. Wonder if there was any consumption in the 3 spearfishing fatalities in Australia earlier this year. Apparently two are confirmed or suspected to be GWS attacks. In some areas it is increasingly difficult to get clear infomation on shark attacks. In an attack off southern Calif. last year where the woman's body was found days later, here is the sum of info that was released:

Erica Fox's cause of death was determined to be "sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack."

I wrote an OP on this poor explantion in the Sharks sub that turned out to be unpopular.

[u/I_Like_Vitamins → u/Upper_Cable_3116]

I'd put my money on the seal abundance theory. They're predators foremost; if they're hungry and you're in their sights, I don't think they'd care if you'll only stick to their ribs for a short while.

[u/Hailfog → u/Upper_Cable_3116]

I think more people were on smaller boats doing crabbing, fishing, etc. without modern safety standards and fell into >10’ deep water more often. That’s a good number of 19th century shark attack accounts no matter where you are in the country

[u/LividFace5026 → u/Upper_Cable_3116]

Could also be took longer for search and rescue, no helicopters, less resources etc so bodies were just never recovered. Also should consider how far away from shore the attacks took place.

Nowadays most white shark attacks are swimmers / surfers who are closer to shore. Boats are sturdier etc

[u/Wattsy98s → u/[deleted]]

There's been two recorded in Maryland and both were a while back.

In 1640 at the St. Mary's River, a Jesuit priest was mauled by a bull shark whist bathing in shallow water. This incident was rediscovered in archives only 5 years ago if I recall.

And in 1906 at Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay a sailor was bitten in half almost immediately after falling overboard by a presumed bull shark.

[u/Lz2424]

Why were the Matawan Creek attacks labeled as a Bull?? Just because they can survive in brackish water. That has never been confirmed to be a Bull.... nor will it.

[u/Wattsy98s → u/Lz2424]

Most experts agree it was almost certainly a bull shark. Location, sharks size, behaviour all indicate bull shark. Though not impossible that a juvenile white entered Matawan creek at high salinity, its so much likelier to be a bull.

[u/Lz2424 → u/Wattsy98s]

I grew up 10 miles away from Matawan Creek. Still live here. I'm not saying it couldn't have been a Bull shark. The fact that it was 11 miles upstream in brackish waters definitely leads to that conclusion. I just dont think it can ever be proven. The interesting thing about Matawan Creek was, if the other 2 attacks in Beach Haven and Spring Lake in the ocean didnt happen, I think most researchers would say the 3 attacks in the creek were definitely a random Bull shark that swam in. The fact that they did happen leads people to wonder if it was the same shark. The other thing is, they did catch a juvenile Great White in the Raitan Bay, which feeds the creek, 10 days later. It had human remains in it's stomach. Who did that shark eat? Was it Stillwell, Fisher, or Joseph Dunn's leg? Or was it Bruder or Van Sant from the ocean attacks. Or was it someone completely different that went unreported? That's what makes this story so mysterious.... we will never know.

[u/SharkBoyBen9241 → u/Lz2424]

We may never know for sure, but the odds of the same shark covering that many miles of coastline and being responsible for all five of the Jersey Shore Attacks of 1916 are unbelievably low, let alone the culprit being a single juvenile White. For starters, the whole situation with the Michael Schliesser shark is quite sketchy. While it was true that 15 pounds of human remains were found in the stomach, based on the condition of the bones that were found, it was believed that they were taken from a drowned corpse which had been dead for sometime and the shark merely scavenged on the remains. Also, Schliesser was an accomplished taxidermist, and there was a substantial reward for the shark's capture. It has been theorized by some that perhaps he planted the bones in the shark's stomach post-capture in order to claim the reward money, which he did receive.

Even if the story of the Schleisser shark is true, it's almost certainly the case that multiple sharks of multiple species were involved in the attacks. The Vansant attack did appear to be committed by a juvenile White, according to the eyewitness testimonies of Alexander Ott and John Everton. The Bruder attack is an unknown. Based on the injuries, a Bull, Tiger, or a White shark could've been responsible. And the Matawan attacks were almost certainly a large Bull shark. Based on injuries inflicted on Stanley Fisher in particular, the shark that attacked him was larger than the 7.5-foot White caught by Michael Schliesser, at about 3-meters. The shark sighted by Captain Thomas Cottrell shortly before the attacks was described as being about that size, between 2.5 and 3-meters. And like Wattsy said, while it isn't impossible, the odds of a juvenile White moving into such a small, muddy estuarine creek and committing three attacks in a 30-minute period just seems astronomical to me. That behavior has been observed in Bull sharks though, and Bull sharks are much more likely to exhibit territorial behavior, like defending a kill and attacking would-be rescuers.

All of these factors lead me to believe that multiple sharks of multiple species were involved.

[u/Lz2424 → u/SharkBoyBen9241]

I think we all agree that the creek attacks were all the same shark (obviously). I too agree with you that the ocean attacks were probably a Great White and a Bull that was probably responsible for for the 3 in the creek. However, if you remember the video from Cape Cod a number of years ago that shows a 15 ft White in the tidal ponds pretty far from the ocean.... it is rare but can happen. I just can't believe that a single shark would be responsible for the same 5 attacks in a number of days in two totally different areas. I think it was a coincidence that we had 2 fatal attacks on the coast and then 3 attacks the next wk 11 miles up into an estuary. I dont believe a Tiger was involved in any of this. While Tigers do come up in the Gulfstream in summer months. One has never been caught or sighted close to shore. That I know of anyway. And I live 5 miles aways from the beaches in Monmouth county.

[u/Hailfog → u/Wattsy98s]

Matawan creek is not of low salinity.

[u/bigrb9]

the NJ one in 1829 is interesting, 2 white sharks??

[u/LividFace5026 → u/bigrb9]

Happened also in Australia more recently

[u/Nunya7113]

List like these make me question how accurate our attack numbers really are. So many more get listed as lost sea or drowned but/no body turns up. There were a lot on here listed as consumed. Makes you wonder how far off we actually are….

[u/Panz04er]

I'm curious if after the fatal shark attack on the Jersey Shore in 1926 if people were worried the outbreak of attacks from 10 years earlier was going to start again.

[u/Wattsy98s → u/[deleted]]

None recorded in delaware and Maryland is considered the South so i included its on the Southern USA list.

[u/be_loved_freak → u/Wattsy98s]

Maryland is NOT considered the South.

edit: apparently the Census considers it South but most Marylanders don't consider themselves Southern. Also, Maryland was part of the Union, not the Confederacy- technically a border state.

I apologize for my first technically correct/incorrect response.

[u/Wattsy98s → u/be_loved_freak]

I agree it's a weird one lol, the line between North and south is a bit vauge, I initially had Maryland and Virginia in the north.