Feeling Schmall

Picture this; a crew aboard a shrimping boat, off the coast of Fort Myers, Florida. It's not a totally horrible day and they are happily shrimping away, unaware of the danger that dwell beneath their boat. Or, maybe they were aware and they weren't think of it at that exact moment. In any case, at that very second, their thoughts were consumed with the bounty of the sea.

But an event that would take four days to transpire was soon to begin.

A group of sharks began slamming into the boat, the Christy Nichole. They bull sharks kept up the assualt on the hull for four days. When a 14-foot bull shark broke the boat's tail shaft, Captain Roger Schmall and his crew of two were set adrift about 100 miles off the coast, radioing for help.

Another vessel picked the crew up about two hours later.

Schmall remained aboard to pump water out while the other boat pulled it back to land. It was worked for a few hours, but the waves eventually took their toll. The boat sank.

Who would have thought the battle between man and beast would end in this way?*











*me!