“For weeks afterwards, large baited hooks were set on drumline floats in an unsuccessful attempt to catch the shark that attacked Miss Hathaway. Images: Glen Denholm (from “a newspaper from back in the day”)įred was later awarded a medal of bravery for his efforts but his memory of the event could never leave him. She was carried up in the stretcher by a team of locals to wait for a second ambulance, but it was too late for Marcia. The clutch burnt out – locals tried desperately to push the van up the hill but it was in vain. Upon arrival she was transferred, but tragically the ambulance could not make it back up the steep hill. The story goes that as they rounded Sugarloaf Point, Fred swam ashore to one of the houses on the Point, presumably around the corner from the Vaughans, frantically urging them to phone for an ambulance to be sent down to the boatshed. If only those aboard had indicated distress we could have telephoned an ambulance to be waiting at the Castlecrag Boatshed.” Long term resident John Vaughan recalls being down on Sugarloaf Point with his family that day, “I saw the 28’ cabin cruiser, VALETTA pass our pontoon motoring around to Castlecrag Boatshed with the wounded Miss Hathaway on board. With the rest of their boating party, he tied tourniquets ripped from sheets to try to stop the bleeding, carried her back to their cruiser and motored towards Castlecrag boatshed. Actress Marcia Hathaway was paddling in 75 centimetres of water and bitten twice on the leg before her fiancé, Fred Knight was able to fight off the shark. Old timers would recall the last fatal attack in the North Arm of Sugarloaf Bay back in 1963. Bull shark sightings are common in the area. Ten years previously, a three and a half metre bull shark was netted off Castle Rock near Clontarf, documented and taken as a trophy to the Sydney Fish Markets. Footage of a three metre bull shark cruising around the mangroves and mudflats in the North Arm of Sugarloaf Bay was recorded in December 2009 from an inflatable kayak. Some reach a depth of 45 metres which provides an environment ideally suited to large fish and their predators. Middle Harbour is a drowned river valley and has some of the deepest holes in Sydney Harbour. He survived initially, but died nine days after the attack in RNSH. That was in January 1960, near the old Roseville bridge. The sixth victim, William Murray, was also 13 when he died from having his right leg severed above the knee whilst skindiving with a family friend. Three weeks before Bruno’s death, 13 year old John Willis died after he had his left leg and right calf bitten at Balmoral, around the same time of day Bruno was taken. Crag resident Bruno Rautenburg swam daily across Sugarloaf Bay until he was fatally bitten on the legs one early February afternoon by a tiger shark. Two gruesome deaths occurred in 1942 around Bantry Bay. Despite his wife and a nearby neighbour (who responded to screams) dragging him to shore, he died almost immediately. A Castlecrag man and his wife were swimming in shallow water off Sugarloaf Point at the bottom of Edinburgh road, when a shark attacked his arm. The first identified record was back in 1916. In the last century, seven people have lost their lives to a shark in Middle Harbour. ![]() Lindy Batterham wrote this piece for The Crag a few years ago on the very subject… Two recent posts in the Willoughby Living Facebook Group gave the community a chilling reminder that Middle Harbour not only has a history of shark sightings, there have also been fatal attacks in the area.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |