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PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DRAFT IN PROGRESS DO NOT CITE Chapter One: Black December, Myths, Fear and Sharks ‘The sea along the Natal coast is subject to increasing pressures from man’s activities’ 1 Melissa van Oordt Masters Student Howard College Campus, Durban, University of KwaZulu-Natal ‘For God’s sake, HELP me’2 Black December: December 1957 – April 1958: On 30th December 1957: …moments before the attack a shark patrol plane passed overhead. The shark went straight for the victims [sic] buttocks and wheeled for a second attack when Mr. Brokensha grabbed the shark’s tail. The animal threw him off and returned to attack…the shark severed the victim’s left arm and then swam off.3 Black December was described by the Natal Mercury (1958) as an: unprecedented reign of terror which virtually put an end to sea-bathing along the South Coast and sent thousands of visitors streaming to net- protected beaches, the marauding sharks have cast a shadow of death over Southern Africa’s premier holiday playground…4 1 G Cliff and RB Wilson Natal Sharks Board’s field guide to Sharks and other marine animals Paper Print, Westmead, Pinetown 1994 p 3 2 The last words record from 5th shark attack victim: “Killer Shark was furthest inshore yet” The Natal Mercury Durban, Friday, January 10, 1958 p 1 3 Natal Shark Board Archives (NSBA) South African Shark Attack File (SASA): KwaZulu-Natal (KZN): File N57/4: File: Julia Painting 30 December 1957 (Shark Attack File managed by Geremy Cliff) 4 “South Coast Shark Attacks Now Total Five” The Natal Mercury Durban, Friday, January 10, 1958 p 2 1 PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DRAFT IN PROGRESS DO NOT CITE In December 1957, the Natal5 South coast had seen four shark attacks:6 Between January and April 1958 a further three attacks occurred along the South coast of Natal. During that period, five of the attacks were fatal. Thereafter, this period was aptly dubbed Black December. The attack described in the opening paragraph has become central in defining both scientific and popular response to this ‘Black December’, which would see both new scientific research into sharks and a heightening of human fears of shark attack, a fear which was largely the consequence of powerful myths. Although this attack had occurred in the same location as all three of the prior attacks and the bodies injuries were just as gruesome, this attack became infamous for several reasons, namely, the frequency of attacks during December, but also the age and sex of the victim. Her attack was vividly recorded by the Natal press in 1957 as thus “…the murderous scavenger let go, but not until it had bitten off the young girl’s arm at the shoulder, and severely mauled her body.” 7 Apart from the physical characteristics of the injured party and her survival of this traumatic experience, her medical treatment following the attack was recorded as the first to use IV fluids in South Africa. 8 Although statistics of shark attack were scanty, by 1957, the chance of attack had increased and it now became apparent that the supervision and policies employed by the lifeguards for prevention of attack had been futile. Measures implemented had included: the banning of certain costumes – it had been determined that light coloured objects were closely related bait or to the prey of sharks9 - and swimming had been restricted to knee-deep paddling.10 Prior to 1958, many methods of prevention in Natal were based on what was in fact unfounded information and scientific studies on the causes of attack only became prominent 1959. This new wave of scientific research occurred because shark 5 For the historical context of this thesis, KwaZulu-Natal will be referred to as Natal, until chronologically the name changed has occurred. 6 From here onwards ‘attack’ shall refer to shark attack, unless specified. 7 “How it happened: Eyewitness Accounts Doctors fight for shark victim’s life” The Natal Mercury Tuesday, December 31, 1957, p 1 8 NSBA: SASA: KZN: File N57/4 30 December 1957 – The use IV fluids marks the growth of South Africa shark attack medically treatment which was internationally recognised in the 1960s (chapter four) 9 NSBA: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) File: “Memorandum on Anti-shark measures” CSIR: National Physical Research Laboratory (NPRL) May 1958, Pretoria, p 9 10 NSBA: SASA: KZN: N57/4 File: Julia Painting 30 December 1957 2 PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DRAFT IN PROGRESS DO NOT CITE attack was coming to be viewed as a national problem and not just a local concern anymore. Increasing local concern about threat of shark attack was noted as early as in mid-December 1957, after the second attack of that month. The Natal Mercury recorded the following statement: “Confidence that some means of combating the shark menace on the South Coast would be evolved “through experience and research” was expressed by the Administrator of Natal, Mr. D. G. Shepstone.”11 A month after this statement was published, as reported in the local press, the Natal Angling Board stated that: “[there is a] possible relationship between inshore whaling and the recent shark attacks…”12 Several measures and ideas to prevent shark attacks, such as the banning of inshore whaling, were posed by various local individuals and groups, this will be discussed in Chapter 3. However, it was only in May 1958 that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of South Africa became involved in shark research.13 The roles of scientific and governmental foundations - such as the Department of Tourism, Natal Sharks Board, Oceanographic Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – the National Physical Research Laboratory and the local Beach Committee, will be discussed in chapter 4. Interestingly, most introductory shark research was based on myths and speculation, which later developed into structured scientific research. Myths about sharks Many studies have shown that humans have shifting perceptions and constructions of their surrounding environment. In turn, these interpretations or representations have contributed to the development of what maybe termed as myths about the environment.14 Myths are influenced by cultural, social and political influences within societies. I hope to show how these aspects form an 11 “Shepstone Confident in Shark War” The Natal Mercury Friday, January 18, 1958 12 “Inshore whaling ban to beat sharks urged” The Natal Mercury Friday, 24 January, 1958 13 NSBA: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research File (CSIR): “Memorandum on Anti-shark measures” in CSIR: National Physical Research Laboratory (NPRL), May 1958, Pretoria, 14 This argument is based on W Cronon’s “Wilderness dualism” from W Cronon “The trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting back to the Wrong Nature” Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature 1996 Harcourt Brace and Company, United States of America pp 69 - 90 3 PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DRAFT IN PROGRESS DO NOT CITE intricate spider’s web in the development of particular myths. In his work on nationhood myths American historian WH McNeill writes, “Myth lies at the basis of human [culture]”. Many myths have their basis in fear.15 For the purpose of this thesis, the diverse social aspects of culture will ultimately differentiate and set apart individual social constructions of ideas and perceptions of environments, societies, species and nature from one social unit to another, in this case sharks. Historian J. Tosh in, The Pursuit of History, defines one aspect of culture as such “the belief… that seemingly bizarre and irrational features in fact reflect a coherence of thought and behaviour” that unites a group of people.16 What Tosh describes as “irrational features” can occasionally be interpreted in the form of a myth. He continues to stay that “myths can be dangerous [-] they induce misguided attitudes and responses.” 17 Although Tosh is referring to learning about the past and mythical versions of history, his notion, similar to that of McNeill can be applied to my thesis to explain the human construction and representation of sharks, myths about sharks, human attitudes towards sharks and the human relationship with sharks. JR McNeill, and American environmental historian, wrote in his paper on the “Nature and Culture of Environmental History” that environmental history is “the history of the mutual relations between humankind and the rest of nature.”18 The core concern of environmental history is the interactions between nature (animals and environments) and humans. D Worster, author of the seminal Dust Bowl, states that both nature and culture share an inter-dependent relationship19, which is continually undergoing change. Similarly, W Cronon, both an environmental historian and historical geographer, argues that neither nature nor culture is static.20 In agreement with both authors, is author, N Rothfels, who claims that societies themselves continuously change, thus leading to changing human 15 WH McNeill Mythistory and Other Essays 1986 University of Chicago Press, Chicago p 23 [ ] my insert 16 J Tosh The Pursuit of History Longman, London 1991 p 104 17 J Tosh The Pursuit of History 1991 p 20 [ ] my insert 18 JR McNeill “Observations on the nature and culture of environmental history” History and Theory Issue 42 December 2003 p 6 19 D Worster “Transformation of the Earth:” The Journal of American History Vol. 76 no. 4 March 1990 p 1091 20 W Cronon. “The uses of environmental history” Environmental History Review Fall No. 17 1993 p 3 and 13 4 PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DRAFT IN PROGRESS DO NOT CITE “perceptions” about animals within both terrestrial and aquatic environments. He continues: “the problem with this way of thinking21 is that we end up having to accept that our current, scientific, heavily research ideas about animals are in a state of constant transformation and that we do not really know what we think we know about them.”22 Most environmental historians believe that not all changes in the environment are a direct result of human action, but also from ecological, biological and geographical changes.

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