Swimmer Bitten Twice in Brighton Bay Encounter

An 1863 firsthand letter to a Melbourne newspaper by the victim himself, describing a two-bite unprovoked attack while floating on his back at night near a full moon in shallow water, represents exceptionally well-sourced and detailed historical documentation with strong archival value for its era.

On the evening of Thursday, March 5, 1863, a swimmer entered the water near Bay Street in Brighton, Victoria, in the Tasman Sea. Around 8:00 p.m., while floating on his back in approximately four feet of water, he was suddenly seized by a shark and severely bitten above the right hip. Turning to face the threat, he received a second, more severe bite that extended nearly halfway around his right leg just above the ankle. Despite significant blood loss from both wounds, the victim managed to exit the water and reach home. His injuries were promptly sutured and dressed by Dr. Tovell. The severity of the lacerations left him unable to bear weight on his injured leg, and he anticipated several weeks of disability during recovery. The incident prompted the victim to write to The Argus newspaper, published in Melbourne on March 10, 1863, urging other bathers to avoid swimming in the Brighton Bay area after dark due to the presence of sharks in the region. His account represents a documented shark encounter from the colonial period in Australia and provides historical evidence of shark activity in Victorian coastal waters during the nineteenth century.