An hour of absolute terror experienced a family in Australia last Friday when a 4.2-metre-long white shark surrounded their boat and tried to attack them off the coast of Perth in the western part of the country.
David Tuckfield, his wife Tanya and their 14-year-old son Shelby were fishing when the big beast approached their boat. In images that were later shared to the Australian channel 9 News, you can see the moment when the shark tries to bite the boat's propulsion engine, mistaking it for food, which caused panicked cries from the woman on board.
The beast came from making several turns around the boat, before looking at the boat's engine, which bit several times.
According to the family, this continued for more than an hour until he finally decided to swim away and they were able to return safely to shore.
Reflecting on the experience, the ship's owner, David, told 9 News: “We had a great visitor from the deep, a good-sized white shark. He tried to take a piece out of the engine, we were hypnotized.”
David said he goes fishing often, but he has never seen a shark so close to his boat, or that size. Adding that it was the highlight of the family's Easter holiday, he described the shark as a “big and majestic creature”.
“We don't appreciate them until you see them up close and it's their playground,” David said.
The fisherman must thank his lucky stars: in February, several beaches in Sydney were closed after a British swimmer, Simon Nellist, 35, died from the 4.5-meter white shark attack, which marked the first such death on the city's beaches in nearly 60 years.
Witnesses said they heard the victim screaming for help in desperation when the shark pounced.
The great white shark allegedly “attacked vertically” before dragging the man's body out of the ocean.
Expert Lawrence Chlebeck said that the fierce shark probably mistook the swimmer, who was supposedly wearing a wetsuit, with a seal when it launched and attacked the Briton.
Three months before that incident, another Briton named Paul Millachip was also attacked and killed by a white shark off the coast of Western Australia.
The 57-year-old man was dragged underwater by the animal that tore him apart in front of a horrified family.
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