This report – originally reported by Perth Now – tells of a fisherman’s horrifying ordeal with 4.5 metre great white. The incident happened at 7am on 9 May about 2 nautical miles form shore at Cockburn Sound, Western Australia.
A FISHERMAN came face-to-face with a massive great white shark after falling from his dinghy in Cockburn Sound in Western Australia yesterday morning.
PerthNow reports that the Rockingham man, aged in his 30s, fell into the sea as he tried to defend himself against a 4.5m shark that rammed his small aluminium fishing boat from behind at 7am.
In a terrifying chain of events described by sea rescue volunteers, the man tried to deter the shark from chewing on his outboard motor by hitting it on the nose with an oar.
But the man-eating monster grabbed the oar and as the fisherman attempted to retrieve it, he toppled into the water.
The boat, which the man was preparing to anchor, was still in gear and motored away from him towards shore, preventing him from climbing aboard.
The shark circled the man four or five times before he was able to flee. He began a frantic two nautical mile swim to shore and was picked up by a fisherman after half an hour.
Rockingham Sea Rescue volunteers recounted the man's terror at his narrow escape.
"He told us the dorsal fin was about the height of a table and the shark was about 4-5m long,'' said volunteer rescuer Colin Lowson.
"He said when he fell out of the boat, he was face-to-face with the shark. It was that close. "All he saw was a mass of white.''
The incident occurred just a few kilometres from where Port Kennedy man Brian Guest was taken by a 4m-5m white pointer in December 2008.
Guest, 56, was diving for crabs in just a few metres of water when he was taken by a giant shark.
According to the West Australian the 35-year-old man refused to speak to the press about his ordeal and requested police to retain his anonymity.
According to this report he told his rescuers he had tried to stay very still as the shark circled.
The incident occurred around 7am, west of Point Peron.
Police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said the man had been preparing to drop anchor when he heard a noise behind the boat.
“When he turned around he noticed a shark, described as a 4.5m white pointer, nibbling at the motor,” Mr Dinnison said.
“The man tried to push the shark away with an oar, and in the process dropped the oar in to the water, and fell overboard. The boat drifted away from him before he was able to climb back on board.
When he came ashore: “The guy was shaken up, very shaken up. It was a big shark and he came face to face with it,” said Lowson said.
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