CANADIAN SHARK ATTACK REGISTRY

Greenland shark bumps boat at Île aux Basques

Case number: 16
Date: 1940-04-04
Location: Île aux Basques, Québec
Incident type: Boat attacked by shark — Code: ST
Species (Confirmed): Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus)
Possible cause(s): Blood in water (Provoked)
Result: No injury
Status: Confirmed
Description: A shark reportedly¹ stalked and attacked a boat midway between Trois-Pistoles and Île aux Basques. The warden of the island, Charles Morency, was making his way to the island in a canoe* while carrying the carcass of a dead animal that he wanted to feed to the island’s foxes. According to Mr. Morency, a blood trail that had formed in the ice-laden water behind the boat attracted a four-metre shark, which followed and then attempted to capsize the boat. The shark first appeared hundreds of feet behind the canoe before swimming rapidly to catch up. It caused such a wave when it surfaced just astern that it nearly capsized the canoe. It dived two more times alongside the boat before lifting the canoe out of the water in a failed attempt to overturn it. It finally reappeared ahead of the canoe and departed.

Original reference²:

Very recently, Mr. Charles Morency, warden of the aquatic domain of the Provencher Society of Natural History of Quebec, which includes Île-aux-Basques and the two Razades [Islands], was the hero of an adventure that he will remember for a long time. He was heading in his canoe towards Île-aux-Basques, carrying in his stern the corpse of a small animal whose blood flowed in the wake of the canoe and which he intended to feed to the foxes of the island. Mr. Morency was cruising slowly when he saw a marine animal a few hundred feet behind his boat, which he mistook for a porpoise. The beast dived then reappeared in the wake, rapidly approaching the craft. A couple of hundred feet from it, the animal dived and then surfaced just astern, so close that the keeper had difficulty in preventing his canoe from capsizing. After another dive, it reappeared next to the boat, dived again and then tried to surface just under the boat which it lifted but did not capsize. It finally appeared ahead of the bow and immediately disappeared. Mr. Morency recognised that the animal, which was 12 feet long, was a blue shark, its skin being grey-blue with a mouth typical of the species. The Razades keeper, an experienced fisherman, who has already caught sharks in the Gulf with his brothers, admitted however that he was caught off guard and that it was the first time a fish had scared him. Where did this lost monster come from? [Translated by Jeffrey Gallant, ORS, 2022]

Assessment: Mr. Morency, who was an experienced fisherman that had previously captured many sharks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, identified the assailant as a blue shark. However, only the Greenland shark could have been present at this particular shallow-water (<6m) and icy location† in early April. Although a passing Greenland shark could have been attracted by the blood, it likely did not have the intention nor the physical capacity to overturn the boat. Also, with an average cruising speed³ of 0.3 m/s, a Greenland shark could not have caught up with the boat over a distance of several hundred feet, let alone produced a wave strong enough to flip it. It is thus our determination that the animal in question was likely a Greenland shark, but the details of the incident were presumably misinterpreted or purposely exaggerated for effect.

Notes:
* It is not understood if the vessel was a canoe or the much-larger service boat (motorised launch) that was normally used to get to the island.
† There are no documented records of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) west of Grande-Vallée, which lies 343 km (185 nm) downriver from Trois-Pistoles.

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References:
¹ Poursuivi par un requin. Le Soleil, Québec. April 11 1940.
² Une histoire de requins. Le Progrès du Golfe. 06.06.1941.
³ Gallant, Jeffrey J., Marco A. Rodríguez, Michael J. W. Stokesbury, and Chris Harvey-Clark. (2016). Influence of environmental variables on the diel movements of the Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus) in the St. Lawrence Estuary. Canadian Field-Naturalist 130(1): 1-14.
(Background) Bateau au service de la société Provencher à l’Île aux Basques, 1946, BAnQ Québec, Fonds Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, (03Q,E6,S7,SS1,P32275), Paul Carpentier.
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Misrepresented and misunderstood, sharks play a critical role in North Atlantic ecosystems, but they are under increasing threat due to their unfair reputation, pollution, and a lack of public awareness. Please donate to help us study and protect the sharks of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Canada before it’s too late.Donations to ORS, an all-volunteer charitable not-for-profit organisation, are tax deductible in Canada. Canada Revenue Agency #834462913RR0001

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Misrepresented and misunderstood, sharks play a critical role in North Atlantic ecosystems, but they are under increasing threat due to their unfair reputation, pollution, and a lack of public awareness. Please donate to help us study and protect the sharks of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Canada before it’s too late.Donations to ORS, an all-volunteer charitable not-for-profit organisation, are tax deductible in Canada. Canada Revenue Agency #834462913RR0001

DONATE

“Fear and indifference bite deeper than any shark.”— Jeffrey Gallant, St. Lawrence Shark ObservatoryTax deductible in Canada
CRA #834462913RR0001DONATE