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Master and Commander
Posts: 1796
Location: Albany, GA. | Subject: Swim Call
A diesel boat operating off Northern Australia during WWII is preparing to drop off a Coast Watcher. The off watch crew is topside, wanting to get in a swim call. The young Officer of the Deck asks the Watcher if the area is known for sharks? The Watcher says "No, there are very few around here." The Officer gives his OK and the crew starts to dive in. Many seem to freeze in mid stride when the Watcher said "The Crocs got them all". Swim call was swiftly canceled. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2974
Location: Liverpool, England | Subject: RE: Swim Call
Was based in Australia for two wonderful years with the 4th Submarine Squadron. When "Hands to Bathe" was piped, I enjoyed those sessions as much as anyone. But the lingering thought in the back of your mind was always the presence of sharks, or Nobby Clarks, as we called them. The second thought was for the two guys on the bridge with Lee-Enfield .303 rifles who were there to protect us from those predators. Knowing that neither of them could ever be considered crack shots did not give much reassurance; but being young and crazy we swam anyway and luckily lived to talk about it.
Pedro  |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1602
| Subject: RE: Swim Call
We were off Maui playing war games with practice acoustic homing torpedoes. One went out of its depth parameters and hit us in the starboard screw. It actually caused us to kind of limp on the surface. Our diver was getting ready to investigate it when a chopper flew near us and gestured with his hands alternating from together to spread wide. Nobody had any idea what he meant, and we had no radio communication. Our diver didn't go in and our boat returned to Pearl limping like an injured guppy. Back at Pearl we found out our boat for a short period was being shadowed by a roughly 17 ft shark.
Sharks were everywhere inside Pearl, but usually not very big. The guys fishing could catch 2-3 feet baby hammerhead sharks all night long. There were amber jacks and other game fish trapped inside the harbor, but I only saw sharks take our five way meat bait.
Edited by Gil 2017-10-23 3:45 PM
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1576
Location: Wollongong, NSW | Subject: RE: Swim Call
If the boat is in mid-ocean, the likelihood of a shark meet is quite rare. Can take a few days of chumming the water to get them to come to investigate (had to do that in a shark count when in the LCH squadron). River outlet or estuary etc is an entirely different ballgame. The comment about crocodiles is not true but sharks generally keep clear of the crocs. A shark can manoeuvre to keep clear of the croc. If cornered in the same area, it has been known to be an interesting fight. Speed and depth have generally saved the shark but it can be a close affair, especially if the crocodile gets the first bite.
Crocodiles; once thought to be estuary creatures, have occasionally been seen basking on Great Barrier Reef sand keys several hours high speed commute from shore. Nasty things in the water. I have been close face to face with one - we were both surprised and I was out of the water in seconds. |
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Swim Call
