Megaladon ?

[Rusty2]

I just wanted to share something with everyone .
A friends father inlaw was dying of cancer . I went to see him when he was crook and asked him about his life etc .
He was "a merchant seaman" in his younger days .
He told me a story about a shark that came up to the side of the "ship" when he was at sea and said it was nearly half the length of the ship . I can't remember the exact details and this was quite a while ago but I got the impression this happened way out off western Australia , maybe 50 years ago .
Thought you'd like to know ............

[thehairyone]

Gday mate , maybe a whale shark ?
Cheers Greg

[Rusty2]

Hmmm , be interesting to know the details ........

[Searcher]

Hi Rusty. Megalodon has always interested me. I have found a great hub that deals with this subject. http://hubpages.com/education/Is-the-Me ... till-Alive

There have been a number of sightings of monster sharks, and just about all are documented here. (Except your friends father in law's sighting... hint, hint!)

I have spoken with a professional fisherman off Port Fairy in Victoria who was a friend of my fathers. We often went there in the 80's to buy fresh crayfish directly from the boats. He told me about numerous encounters with a giant shark they called 'Big Ben'. According to him, it was at least 32 feet long. They knew this as when it swam past, it was longer than their 30 foot fishing boat. Huge white shark or juvenile Meg... who knows? He also told me it would not take baits like other Great Whites and that they thought of shooting it with the 303's they always carried on board, but " those magnificent jaws would just sink to the bottom".

One of my favourite reports is this Port Stephens encounter.

A few reports of alleged encounters with large, unidentified sharks have been proposed as evidence for C. megalodon survival. One of the most widely cited is an extraordinary tale recounted by Australian naturalist David Stead (1963: 45-46):

In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds---which lie in deep water---when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all". These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches [1.06 m] in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as a indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet [90 m] long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood---about 115 feet [35 m]! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish colour of the vast fish. The local Fisheries Inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.

[Rusty2]

Hey Searcher , us funny little humans don't know everything and not all members of the general public are crazy despite what the scientists may think . People keep seeing lotsa different stuff , it's exactly the same as the ufo phenomena and the mysterious yowie .
The ocean is vast and deep , why couldn't the megalodon still exist ?
I contacted the website to let them know , might as well pass it on .