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Spotter pilot: Sharks approached people in the water off Chatham

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 9, 2009 08:21 PM

Julia Cumes for The Boston Globe

Probably the wiser course of action: A bather just got her legs wet last week on Chatham's Lighthouse Beach.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

There was no blood in the water, but the great whites clearly sensed something.

From the cockpit of his Piper Super Cub, George Breen spent much of Tuesday afternoon circling over the waters south of Chatham, helping a state research team spot the sharks that have been hunting for seals there over the past week.

As the pilot kept a lookout for the long, dark shadows lurking in the clear water, he said, he witnessed a harrowing sight: sharks racing toward swimmers.

“They definitely knew they were out there,” Breen said of sharks sensing the swimmers. “Whether they’d bite them, I don’t know.”

Breen was hired to help the research team, which tagged three great whites on Tuesday, bringing to five the number of sharks tagged with tracking devices over the last week. The discovery of sharks off Chatham forced the indefinite closing of the town’s beaches, but some ignored warnings not to swim in the area.

In one near-miss, Breen said he watched as a shark approached a diver from a documentary crew making a film about the researchers. He said he was circling above the filmmakers’ boat when the diver jumped into the water to retrieve a piece of equipment.

“I saw a shark going real slow about a quarter-mile away, and then when the diver jumped in, all of a sudden I saw the shark head right for the boat, going from about 2 knots to 10 to 15 knots, in an instant,” Breen said.

He radioed the crew on the boat and told them to get the diver out -- right away. The diver was attached to a tether and he was pulled out.

“The shark definitely smelled something,” Breen said. “Their sensory perception is unbelievable. The shark was only about 100 feet when they pulled the diver out.”

It wasn’t clear whether the diver got his equipment.

Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, declined to identify the diver or the film company. Breen said he didn’t know their names.

Shortly afterward, Breen said he watched another shark dart toward a man surfing in the waters off Orleans. He said the surfer, who probably never saw the submerged fish, walked ashore as the shark got within about 100 yards of him.

“All I can say is, I think he’s just one lucky dude,” Breen said. “He was pointed right at the surfer.”

Dan Tobin, director of Parks and Recreation for Chatham, said most people have avoided swimming in the area.

He said he wasn’t worried about the sharks sullying tourism.

“I think the curiosity factor has kept people in town,” he said. “But I guess we’re fortunate that this is the end of the swimming season."