Unfortunately, the expedition found no trace of white sharks in the 104km (70 mi.) stretch they explored between Trevose Head and Hartland Point. The original sightings were, nonetheless, sufficiently tantalizing to spur a privately funded 13-day expedition led by Richard Peirce to the waters off north Devon and Cornwall, during August 2003.
The footage undoubtedly showed a basking shark, which are frequent visitors to the south coast during summer, and not the great white that the newspaper asserted.
#DEEP BLUE SHARK TAGGED MOVIE#
A day or so later, some ‘evidence’ of white shark activity was presented by The Sun, in the form of a shaky home movie showing a large shark swimming just offshore from Tintagel in north Cornwall. The Blue Fox story made the headlines in the British press about two days after it happened and 'shark fever' began. Unfortunately, because the carcass had no commercial value to the fisherman, it was cut loose without being photographed the description, however, makes it hard to believe it could be anything other than a white shark. The crew described the shark as having a slate-grey back, bright white belly and a crescent-shaped mouth with triangular teeth. Finally, approximately two weeks later, in September 1999, a lobster fisherman reported a large shark, estimated to be about 4.6m, entangled in his rope off Tintagel Head, about 18km (12 mi.) away from the Blue Fox sighting.
#DEEP BLUE SHARK TAGGED FULL#
The full description of the shark's appearance and behaviour towards the boat match perfectly that given by Mr Britts and his colleagues the day before.
The day after the Blue Fox incident, in almost exactly the same spot, two men fishing for tope from the boat Blissful watched as a large shark, which they said was as least as long as their 5.2m (17ft) boat, surfaced and bit two-thirds off the shark they were hauling in. The credibility of the Blue Fox encounter was subsequently enhanced by two events that occurred shortly afterwards.
So, unfortunately, no photos of the Blue Fox’s shark exist and, despite the remarkable credibility of the accounts given by the customers and crew, there remains no unquestionable proof of the shark species involved. “ The capture on film (let alone a good quality identifying photo) of a fleeting event, such as the appearance of a GW at the side of your boat, to disappear as quickly as it materialised, is no mean feat.” There were cameras on board, but, as one of the Blue Fox's regular customers, Adrian Bradyshaw, pointed out to me: Additionally, Mr Turner spent many years living off a boat in South Africa and is very familiar with white sharks he is certain the animal he saw was a great white. The crew, which included two angling journalists, had seen many porbeagles ( Lamna nasus), shortfin makos ( Isurus oxyrinchus) and basking sharks ( Cetorhinus maximus) during their trips and were adamant the shark that investigated them was any of these. The crew described how the shark passed the stern and rolled slightly on to its side, exposing its white belly, before swimming away. On 24th August 1999, a group fishing aboard the vessel Blue Fox (skippered by Mike Turner and Phil Britts) off Cambeak Head near Crackington Haven in Cornwall were in the process of releasing a 9-14kg (20-30 lb) tope shark ( Galeorhinus galeus) they had caught, when they were investigated by a large shark, estimated to be around 4.6m (15ft) long. Indeed, according to an article in The Sun newspaper during 2003, great white sharks were “patrolling Britain’s shores”! So, how did this media hyperbole begin? So it begins… - Credit: Marc Baldwin If you were a regular reader of the tabloids around the turn of the millennium, you might’ve been forgiven for thinking that anyone dipping their toe in the Great British briny, otherwise referred to as the north east Atlantic, ran a considerable risk of being torn limb from limb.
Before I am inundated with e-mails linking to The Sun newspaper’s website, let’s take a moment to look at the evidence. There have been many stories in the media over recent years but, at the time of writing (November 2019) there has never been a single confirmed sighting of a great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias) in UK waters. The most absolutely honest answer to the question “are there white sharks in British waters?” is that we simply do not know for sure, although there are several reports that suggest they may be occasional visitors.