Okay, thanks. I misread you.
What I did was to locate such incidents of emergency knife use as I could find. No one has done a survey of how many divers may use a knife defensively in light of how many divers may never need one.
I do know one diver who had to stab a shark, and his experience was limited to that sole occasion. The shark had just previously been hit with a spear as it made a pass at him. He was holding a fish on his line but the shark seemed also interested in him. He had prior reason to regard these grey reef sharks with caution. They are often aggressive.
He is a sport diver and does not spend as much time in the water as do professional divers. But he had that experience. Someone else may be in the ocean a lot and never have such an experience. I've been driving for over 40years and have had just one wreck, when I was rammed from behind while stopped at a traffic light. Others may have several wrecks in a few years. Oh, wait: a big Mercedes did run a red light and made me stand hard on my brakes. The other car left white paint on my front bumper as it passed at some 60 MPH! So, for me, that's two close calls in maybe 40-45 years. I have no idea what the national average is, or if anyone has/can establish it. Same for diving incidents involving dangerous marine life.
But the subject seems to be little addressed in print. I went through quite a few books to find the eight or so cases that I had room to include. This doesn't mean that divers don't have to defend themselves a lot more than I found out about. I just don't know of any source that has tabulated such cases. Many are probably never reported, especially from Third World countries. With regard to that, I feel sure that quite a few shark attacks never reach George Burgess, who maintains the official Shark Attack File. So we don't read about them.
I know of just one case in which a man successfully stabbed to death an African lion with a hunting knife. You may know about that. The game ranger's name was Harry Wolhuter and the lion's hide was displayed for years in Kruger National Park. The lion had dragged Wolhuter off of his horse and had gotten hold of him by one shoulder and was dragging him off, presumably to eat. The hunter was able to draw his sheath knife and stab the six-inch blade into the animal's heart, saving Wolhuter. He never regained full use of the affected shoulder, but otherwise lived a normal life. I think that others could have saved themselves had they had a knife.
I know of just a few cases where men have used knives to save themselves from bears and from cougars. In one case, a Spyderco with about a three-inch blade was used to drive off a cougar attacking a six-year-old boy in a national park. The animal wasn't killed but was driven off. The only other cougar vs. knife case ended with the victim cutting the cat's throat, although much messed up, himself. But other cases may have escaped my scrutiny. I do know of other victims who might have saved themselves had they had a knife.
So it is with sharks. I just don't think anyone has the info you asked about. It's hard enough to just gather reliable reports on the attacks, themselves.
How much do some watersports people worry about a second attack? Depends. One young lady named Bethany Something is a TV personality. She still surfs after losing an arm to a big tiger shark. I guess she doesn't reckon on finned lightning striking her twice! Rodney Fox also kept diving after being almost bitten in half by a big white shark. Others who were bitten may decide to take no further chances. Who knows the odds, across the board?
I wish that I had a better answer for you. But no one does.
What I did was to locate such incidents of emergency knife use as I could find. No one has done a survey of how many divers may use a knife defensively in light of how many divers may never need one.
I do know one diver who had to stab a shark, and his experience was limited to that sole occasion. The shark had just previously been hit with a spear as it made a pass at him. He was holding a fish on his line but the shark seemed also interested in him. He had prior reason to regard these grey reef sharks with caution. They are often aggressive.
He is a sport diver and does not spend as much time in the water as do professional divers. But he had that experience. Someone else may be in the ocean a lot and never have such an experience. I've been driving for over 40years and have had just one wreck, when I was rammed from behind while stopped at a traffic light. Others may have several wrecks in a few years. Oh, wait: a big Mercedes did run a red light and made me stand hard on my brakes. The other car left white paint on my front bumper as it passed at some 60 MPH! So, for me, that's two close calls in maybe 40-45 years. I have no idea what the national average is, or if anyone has/can establish it. Same for diving incidents involving dangerous marine life.
But the subject seems to be little addressed in print. I went through quite a few books to find the eight or so cases that I had room to include. This doesn't mean that divers don't have to defend themselves a lot more than I found out about. I just don't know of any source that has tabulated such cases. Many are probably never reported, especially from Third World countries. With regard to that, I feel sure that quite a few shark attacks never reach George Burgess, who maintains the official Shark Attack File. So we don't read about them.
I know of just one case in which a man successfully stabbed to death an African lion with a hunting knife. You may know about that. The game ranger's name was Harry Wolhuter and the lion's hide was displayed for years in Kruger National Park. The lion had dragged Wolhuter off of his horse and had gotten hold of him by one shoulder and was dragging him off, presumably to eat. The hunter was able to draw his sheath knife and stab the six-inch blade into the animal's heart, saving Wolhuter. He never regained full use of the affected shoulder, but otherwise lived a normal life. I think that others could have saved themselves had they had a knife.
I know of just a few cases where men have used knives to save themselves from bears and from cougars. In one case, a Spyderco with about a three-inch blade was used to drive off a cougar attacking a six-year-old boy in a national park. The animal wasn't killed but was driven off. The only other cougar vs. knife case ended with the victim cutting the cat's throat, although much messed up, himself. But other cases may have escaped my scrutiny. I do know of other victims who might have saved themselves had they had a knife.
So it is with sharks. I just don't think anyone has the info you asked about. It's hard enough to just gather reliable reports on the attacks, themselves.
How much do some watersports people worry about a second attack? Depends. One young lady named Bethany Something is a TV personality. She still surfs after losing an arm to a big tiger shark. I guess she doesn't reckon on finned lightning striking her twice! Rodney Fox also kept diving after being almost bitten in half by a big white shark. Others who were bitten may decide to take no further chances. Who knows the odds, across the board?
I wish that I had a better answer for you. But no one does.
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