Archives: BlennyWatcher.com Originally published in Ocean Realm

50 Ocean Realm Profile:

Peter Benchley The author of the underwater super-thrillers, "Jaws" and "The Deep;' is revealed as a sensitive schdar of our seas.

TEXT BY NED DELOACH also cringed as they watched a fictive was the American yachtsmans neuroses shark gnaw away at their projected prof- that were rasped by the chilling tale. Soon he world's most popular creator of un- its. Someone has to be blamed. It must be to follow was a third major motion T derwater fiction is, without question, Benchley! picture. Peter Benchley. His four books, three film Two years later, in 1976, a second novel Benchleys public acclaim continued to scripts and innumerable television proj- appeared: The Deep. The great white be- grow with each new success. This popu- ects have made his name synonymous hemoth was now gone. In its place was a larity, coupled with a gracious manner with underwater adventure. These ac- fast action yarn packed with flying and literate mind, made him a natural to complishments have brought him wealth speargun shafts, underwater explosives, help bolster the ratings of network spe- and notoriety from the general public, but shipwrecks brimming with modern and cials about the sea. These well-produced mostly disfavor from the sport diving ancient treasures, a resident moray eel (of projects portrayed a new, exciting world community, which has invariably course, much larger and far more menac- to millions of Saturday afternoon arm- perceived his novels as packaged goods, ing than those encountered in real life) chair adventurers. The scripts were far lacking in conscience, foresight and and a lovely maiden gracing a forever- removed from the spectacular hyperbole authenticity. clinging wet T-shirt. that characterized Benchleys books and Accusing fingers are repeatedly A young couple honeymooning in Ber- film dramas. In their place were sensitive, pointed at the unprecedented shark ma- muda were the storys central characters. well-researched narratives about the sea nia that followed in the wake of Benchley's The action-packed script never allowed and her inhabitants. For the first time, the first creation, Jaws. He had taken liberties them to dive below the crystalline waters public was presented with a true sense of with the shark's naturalinclinations to en- without confronting misadventure. Many the man. gender a great white rogue. America sud- sport divers felt personally betrayed. They Benchley's critics were taken aback by denly discovered a hoola hoop of horror knew that The Deep was not an honorable what seemed to be an about-face in atti- brandishing two thousand teeth. The testament to their sport. tude. How could he, on one hand, portray country responded by purchasing nine Again, good fortune followed our man. the sea as a no-man's land, and on the million copies of the book and set box The book sold well and the movie rendi- other, express such insight into her very office records when the excellent film ad- tion was a hit. Jackie Bisset filled the essence? Most divers were pleased by his aptation appeared. After witnessing the clinging T-shirt admirably and Nick Nolte understanding comments, but many re- terror inflicted by Benchley's phantasmic grimaced to perfection each time he es- mained skeptical. If the man felt so deeply beast, thousands were scared away from caped from the ill-boding depths. toward life in the oceans and their con- the water. Many others responded to their In The Island, Benchley's third novel, the tinued existence, then why didn't he use fear by ignominiously slaughtering sharks formidable adventures moved topside to his writing talents to help express these of every species. Beach resort owners and deal directly with the grisly realities of views? watersport equipment manufacturers modern-day piracy. This time around, it He did just that in 1982, when his fourth 51 sea novel, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez, was Daily News that a man had caught a 4,500- 220 in my head, but none we were happy published. The storyline abandoned the pound great white shark off the beaches of with. Many sounded like bad Francoise swashbuckling action that dominated his Long Island. I thought, 'My God, what Sagan novels-A Stillness in the Water, earlier books. In its place was a simple would happen if one of these things came Leviathan Rising-that type of stuff. Even- fable about a young girls love for the sea into the beach and wouldn't go away?' But tually I began to think of titles like The and her determination to protect its crea- at the time, I did nothing about the idea. Jaws of Leviathan, The Jaws of Death and tures. The sublime joy experienced while 'As a journalist in New York I was occa- decided to throw all that away as garbage. free-diving in an undisturbed sea has sel- Twenty minutes before publication, we dom been expressed so well. Persistent had no title. Tom and I could only agree on threats by local fishermen to discover her one word. We didn't even understand secret marine world closely parallel the what it meant, but it was nice and short. continuing burdens placed on all our seas Finally, I said, 'Lets call it Jaws.' by world economic realities. Hurray for "If you remember, one of the very im- Benchley! Finally, a story that has touched portant promotions for the book was the the soul of our sport! But wait, what has logo that appeared on the jacket. Like the been the public's reaction? Unfortunately, title, we had a difficult time deciding what it was far less dramatic than that which to use. I had suggested a set of enormous occurred following his earlier novels. For shark jaws with a town inside. Terribly the first time, a Benchley sea story was symbolic. It was duly drawn by Double- passed over by bookclub selection com- day. When the sales force saw it, they rose mittees. Even after a hard sell to the film up as a man and said they didn't approve industry, no contract has been forthcom- of it because it looked like the Freudian ing. Lamentably, The Girl of the Sea of Cor- analogy of the vagina dentata, the toothed tez, with all its meritorious sentiments vagina, the terrible Freudian nightmare. and grace, interested too few to be They felt it was disgusting. Again, the deemed profitable. book had to go into production soon. We What does the public require from un- had many designs, but none that we could derwater fiction? Is it truth and beauty, or decide on. We were working with a black a manifestation of its own misconcep- jacket that had the title Jaws on it. Alex tions? If profits are considered, the public Godfrey, their design genius, saw this demands a cushioned terror, to be gently and knew that we weren't going to get seated in another realm while safely sens- anywhere. He sketched up a grey rising ing excitement and stimulation beyond sionally taken to lunch by publishers. shark. All you could tell about it was a realistic endurance. Jaws, The Deep, and They would ask me if I had a book. A few slash of a mouth with some teeth. He still The Island filled this genre with remark- times I mentioned the shark story and didn't like it. He worked with this design able success. Although farcical in nature, some expressed interest. Then one guy until the last minute before production the stories were replete with fun and did the inexcusable. Tom Congden of Dou- when he drew in a swimming woman thrills. Few contemporary storytellers bleday, after hearing about it, thought that right under the title and just over the have captured the emotions of an au- this was such a good idea that he offered a sharks nose. Now what this did is to give dience better than Peter Benchley. thousand dollars for the first four chap- it everything you can imagine. It had sex- For a decade now, the dichotomy be- ters. If he liked them, he would then draw ual menace, Freudian menace and it said tween his fiction and expressed senti- up a contract. I took the thousand and animal, death, woman. It did all these ments has puzzled many. Yet two facts are didn't do anything about the project. things, but nobody knew it at the time. indisputable. He will continue to delight About three months later he called my "The book went out to the Book-of-the- millions with thrilling underwater ad- agent and asked for the four chapters or Month Club. They made it an A-book, venture stories that flow from a most un- the thousand back. So I started on the which, in publishing terms, means that it usual and compelling imagination. At the book-something I had wanted to do, is likely to be a main selection. This is rare same time, popularity decrees that he is a anyway. At the time I had no money. I was for a first novel. Then it was picked up by spokesman for the seas. Our concerns are working in the back of the Pennington the Readers' Digest Condensed Book represented well by a man deeply com- Furnace Supply Co. with two days a week Club. Soon, movie companies began to mitted to knowledge and understanding. off to tell my story. I had never written a bid on it. Now, Tom knew we had some- long story before; not only that, I knew the thing that was a bit more than normal. The following interview with Mr. Benchley book would have no chance of commercial "It came out in late spring, and got a lot took place on February 6, 1984 in his Fifth success. Nobody among the reading pub- of publicity during the summer because Avenue apartment that overlooked a snow- there were a couple of shark scares as swept Central Park. lic knew anything about sharks. Those that did.didn't like them. I didn't expect there always are. Universal began filming that this would do anything at all. on Martha's Vineyard. The press showed Much of the criticism directed toward Jaws up from all over the world. Once this be- comes from the idea that it was a formula "I finished the chapters and took them bestseller. How did the idea originate and to Tom. He liked them and showed the gan, it fed on itself:' first eight pages, which have never been develop? The Girl of the Sea changed to this day-not even a comma- }our most recent novel, of Cortez, to the sales staff of Doubleday. This was expresses strong sentiment about "I grew up in Nantucket. Every time I the attack on the girl. Well, they went ape man's need to protect the sea. This is a state- ment of your personal values? went fishing in the summer, the ocean over it. We then discussed how it would seemed to be carpeted with blue shark proceed from there. He gave me a contract 'Absolutely. Writing The Girl of the Sea of and the odd Mako. I became fascinated for a sum total of $7,500 for the finished Cortez was a wondrous opportunity for with them. I began to read everything I book. me to say the things I believe in a fictional could get my hands on about the subject. "I completed the writing in 1972. At context. Jaws had no moral principle be- In the mid-60s I spotted a little clip in the this time we had no title yet. I had about hind it. When I began it, all I was trying to 52 Ocean Realm do was tell a story and see what would happen. Little did I know that it would become a monster of its own. It did cause a lot of problems with people going off and killing sharks. I had inadvertently created an adversary relationship between man and the ocean which I hadn't intended at all. Then The Deep, in the context of a story which I intended to be fun, had again been construed as another adver- sary relationship. People began to take it seriously. Then I wrote The Island. This theme was serious to me, having twice been attacked while in the Turks and Caicos; yet the story itself was a fantasy about what can happen, taking into ac- count the historical aspects of the pirates I had studied. Again, I was having fun with it. Oh boy, terrible man showing the sea as a savage place! I thought, if people get serious about this when I don't intend Cruise the Bahamas aboard the largest, fastest them to, then let's get serious about some- thing I really believe in. That is where The and most luxurious U.S. Diveboat "The Sea Fever" Girl of the Sea of Cortez comes from:' with Captain Tom Guarino. What aspect of diving do you enjoy most? 5 days and 4 nights in 90 feet of air conditioned "In the broad sense, the most exciting comfort for only $449.00 per person. thing to me is discovery. After traveling around the world diving, I soon realized that I was doing little more than sightsee- ing. You can do that just so long without r,JJ41i'BVB getting bored. It's like a student of art. CATCH IT NOW! (305) 448-071 t After you've seen the Prado, Louvre, and Sea Fever Diving Cruises, r.O. Box 144816, Coral Gables, Florida 33tt4-4816 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, you say, 'OK, now what?' It is only READER SERVICE 55 then that you realize that you need to spe- cialize-in impressionistic painting, for example. You become knowledgeable in a particular area. Divers have the oppor- 1984 Stephen Frink tunity to become amateur biologists, ecol- ogists, archaeologists, etc. These people Photo Seminars continue a sense of discovery in them- selves. People do dive for many reasons. Some for excitement. Others try to find a new way to get hurt. I h~ve found, for me, Course I the intellectual adventure of learning FLORIDA KEYS/PENNEKAMP about the history of maritime societies and marine archaeology. Shipwrecking MAY 28, 29,30 offers the touching of history coupled JUNE 12, 13, 14 with the fascination of being in an alien JULY 17, 18, 19 environment that is wonderful, with the AUGUST 14, 15, 16 beauty of plant and animal life one en- counters. There is the sense of learning which is difficult in normal tour diving:' Course II Isn't it difficult for sport divers to become in- volved in shipwrecking? GRAND CAYMAN/SPANISH COVE "One of the things I would like to see is the sport diver enjoying supervised ship- April 7-14 wrecking. I think that if you found a ship- September 8-15 wreck of no great historical significance in a clear water situation and said, "Come BONAIRE/DIVE BONAIRE on down here and spend some time work- May 12 -19 in a clear water situation and invited div- ers to go down and spend some time Slel)hen Frink Photographic working this wreck in a specific way and with a goal in mind, they would jump at P.O. BOX19A the opportunity. They would be responsi- KEY LARGO, FL 33037 ble, have a good time, and learn some- (305) 451-3737 thing. It would probably change the character of sport diving. READER SERVICE 56 53 "U/W archaeology is in a great crisis automatically stolen from you by the nis courts if you will write for four hours now because there is a piece of legislation government:' each day:' He gave me a desk and type- before Congress that, if passed, will writer and said, 'You get in there at eight change the rules in the United States, Why do you continue using the underwater every morning and don't leave until noon. greatly limiting the amateur divers abil- world as a source for your fiction? If you want to spend more time, that is ity to shipwreck. There is a valid conflict. "One writes what one lives and I spend your business; but you had damned better It is true that shipwrecks should be pre- all my free time diving. I especially enjoy be there four hours: He never asked to served so that professional archaeologists shipwrecking with Teddy Tucker and read anything unless I asked him. It was can derive from them information they filmmaking with Stan Waterman. Some- truly a wonderful gift:' need. It is also true that there are hun- body like James Michener goes to live in a dreds of thousands of shipwrecks around country and steeps himself in that en- What is one of your personal dreams? the world-many more than archaeolo- vironment before writing his novels. I ''A Utopia for me would be to live close gists will be able to touch. In a sense, you steep myself in the underwater environ- to a metropolitan center by a sea where a have a used car lot of wrecks that extends ment day after day, so I write about it. vast field of undiscovered shipwrecks rest from the United States to great Britain, to Writing is the most wonderful occupation in clear water near the edge of a wall. Each Bermuda, to the Bahamas, to the Turks in the world for the reason that you may day I could go down the wall and have and Caicos Islands. It seems mad to me to work where you want to be and while that experience before coming up to ex- try to restrict all of it and say no one can doing what you enjoy. The grail of exis- plore the wreck sites. I would go to the touch any of it for the good of history. tence, after all, is having a job you can theater at night; then go home:' Well, it isn't good for history. If you con- perform while doing something you Mr. Benchley is currently waiting for tinue the used car analogy and find a car adore:' word of who will direct his new film that is, for one reason or another, unique, Did you always want to be a writer? drama, The Deep II, written for Columbia then that should be preserved. If you find Pictures. In the interim, he is immersing a 1947 Chevrolet that is not worth preserv- "Yes. It was more environmental than himself in warm Caribbean waters while ing, why not let the amateur derive his anything else. My grandfather Robert and working on a project for National Geo- own satisfaction from picking away and my father Nathaniel were both successful graphic with renowned underwater pho- learning a bit; and, God forbid, if there at writing. That is what my family did. I tographer David Doubilet. should be gold on it, derive some financial grew up in a family where it was a source reward as well. It seems to me that there of pride to write a coherent sentence. In should be some sort of cooperative atti- the summertime while growing up, I Ned De Loach is an avid diver and photojour- tude between the government and divers, earned money doing youth jobs such as nalist residing in Jacksonville, Florida. He is whereupon, if you do discover a find, you rolling tennis courts. When I was 16, my the author of the Diving Guide to Underwa- could report it to a central authority with father said to me, 'I'll tell you what. I'll pay ter Florida, and a former contributing editor the knowledge that it is not going to be you the same salary you make rolling ten- to Sport Diver magazine. 0

West Indian Manatee Limited Edition Print

Internationally known artist Steffi Smith has captured the special gentleness of the endangered West Indian Manatee in this LIMITED EDITION print for the Save the Manatee Clubs. This full- color print is currently avail- able from the Save the Manatee Clubs at the Florida Audubon Society. Proceeds from sales of these300 limited edition prints will be used to further public awareness and research pro- grams for this unique marine animal. Mail your $90 tax de- ductible donation to: Save the Manatees, 1101 Audubon Way, Maitland Fla. 32751. Phone 305-647-2615 for more details.

19 by 24 inches $90 postpaid

READER SERVICE 57 54 Ocean Realm