Spear Fisherman Fatally Bitten Near Darnley Island

The rescue vessel Toorah wrecked on a reef during the mercy mission to transport the victim to hospital, making this a remarkably compounded tragedy in which the patient died of exsanguination when his wounds reopened — a sequence of events documented in multiple contemporary sources and cited in Coppleson's 1958 reference work.

On September 4, 1954, a tragic incident occurred near Darnley Island (Erub Island) in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. A 35-year-old native diver and spear fisherman was hunting crayfish on a reef with a companion when he was attacked by a shark estimated at nine feet in length. The attack inflicted severe injuries upon the victim. When news of the incident reached the nearby 85-foot trochus vessel Toorah, which had put into Darnley Island for water, the crew immediately offered assistance. A mercy mission was launched to transport the injured man to Thursday Island for medical treatment. However, the voyage proved catastrophic. While attempting to reach Thursday Island during heavy seas, the Toorah struck Long Island Reef, approximately 65 miles from their destination, becoming a total loss. The patient's wounds reopened during the wreck, and he died from exsanguination shortly after the vessel ran aground. The crew and the victim's relatives aboard the Toorah were forced ashore on the mangrove beach of Long Island with minimal supplies. The victim's body was subsequently transported to Thursday Island by the lugger Pelican. This incident exemplifies the dangers faced by fishermen in remote waters of the Torres Strait, as well as the risks inherent in rescue operations in this challenging maritime environment. The species of shark involved was never definitively identified.