Customer Reviews

Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was always interested in the story of a Great White Shark attack along the Jersey Shore. It is mentioned in all the shark books, referenced in Jaws, and shown on the Discovery channel. It is a story I have always been interested but could never find any whole books about. And what did I see in the book store??? Not one but TWO books on the subject.

So now the the question was which one to buy. I read parts of both and quickly discovered that Dr. Fernicola clearly seemed to know more about sharks and the subject. Not to knock the other book, but Fernicola's book shows a deeper knowledge of sharks and the incident of 1916.

Needless to say, it only took 3 days to read this entire book. It is so interesting. He does a great job describing the times and historical background. He does a great job telling about the attacks. He does a great job discussing sharks and theories about sharks.

The book is well written. It has great information on the 1916 attacks and the times they took place in. It is also a great lesson on sharks in general.

I have family on the Jersey shore and it amazes me that this could take place there. Plus in a creek miles from the ocean...YIKES!

This was a book I read cover to cover and immmediatly passed on to friends.

Anyone who likes sharks, shark week on TV, or JAWS will love this book.

During the summer of 1916 five people were attacked by a shark (or sharks) along the coast of New Jersey's Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Four of those five, including a 12-year old boy, were killed. The fifth victim narrowly escaped the jaws of death, suffering severe wounds to his leg.

These freak attacks occured within 12 days of each other during a time in American history when the foremost expers believed that sharks did not possess the necessary strength to break a human bone...Panic and near hysteria followed...

Sixty-five years after the attacks, a young college student heard about the attacks during a train ride home for the holidays. The incident of the attacks and the contraversy between the leading shark experts piqued his interest. Curiosity developed into passion and that passion for the answer resulted in twenty years of investigating and a book that is one of the most thoroughly researched accountings I have ever read.

Twelve Days of Terror is a novel, a diary, a medical journal, a detective story, and most assuredly the definitive investigation of the New Jersey shark attacks of 1916. The author utilized his medical school training in evaluating the evidence and spent countless hours interviewing eye-witnesses to the tragic events. Unfortunately, those eye-witnesses are now all gone, but for the field notes of the author, their story was doomed never to be told. This book is a MUST for every beach-goer this summer. It will not only intimately acquaint the reader with everything they wanted to know about shark attacks, but it will also provide a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scene politics and social aspects of the early 20th century.

The shark attacks off the New Jersey shore were doomed to fade into almost urban mythology. Richard Fernicola has painstakingly researched the twelve days of horror that held a nation in its grip. The first strike, July 1 was on an unsuspecting Charles Vansant, in which eyewitnesses report the agressor shark actually held on,and or followed its prey into the shallows. Fernicola has gathered all the available accounts (since eyewitnesses were dead, he turned to family members, newspaper archives and books)and has pieced together an account of the mounting terror until July 12, the deadliest day (two killed and one maimed) and last reported killings. This is an engrossing look into a time when not much was known about sharks and when newspapers were depended upon to deliver the news. It also gives a detailed look into sharks and their history as man eaters. The most interesting portion of the book, after the actual accounting of the people involved and the attacks themselves, is the medical renderings of each victim's wounds and an accounting of the actual cause of death. This is an engrossing book, and it is well researched. It is a time capsule of sorts, reopening the time when there was belief that a mackeral had inflicted the wounds, that the Germans were attracting the sharks with some new secret gadget, when a day at the beach was a simple day at the beach.

First off, due praise must be given to the author. This book is extensively and painstakingly researched. That is readily apparent throughout the book. The author has scoured old newspapers and photographs, and conducted his own interviews with witnesses and family of witnesses/victims.

The fist hundred pages or so is a wonderfully written, detailed description of the events of those twelve days in 1916. The author's attention to detail and extensive research give a robust picture of not only the victims' last days and the events of the attacks, but also a very interesting description of what the New Jersey shore was like in the day.

My only complaint with the book is that I expected it all to be that way. Unfortunately, the next two hundred pages delivery a scientific analysis of different shark species, their attack styles, an analysis of the wounds, a comparison/contrast with other shark attacks around the world, etc. for the purpose of determining what species of shark(s) most likely attacked the victims, and why the attacks occurred at all.

Again, all this was extensively researched, but not what I expected. Perhaps the fault, then, is my own. Nonetheless, the prospective reader should be aware of what this book is about.

For the first time, I have seen in print an exhaustive narritive of the most perplexing mystery of the twentieth century. It is unfathomable to imagine how the pieces to this complex puzzle could have been put together so masterfully. The witness interviews were the most riveting aspect of the book and I dare say they made me feel like I was part of the drama. The book was a cross between Titanic and Perfect storm, but the difference was, every word is apparently true and authentic. I'm getting a stack of the books for Father's Day !

Being a huge shark fan since I was 5,over the years I have done extensive reading and research on many different species and attack senarios,but none can compare to the infamous July of 1916 off the New Jersey coast.The circumstances and vicious nature of these attacks are so bizzare that they are almost unbelievable.But as they say,many times fact is stranger than fiction. This book is easily the best and most factual accounting of these 12 days,and also delves very deeply into shark behavior,attack circumstances,the (not widely accepted) rouge theory,and the the types of shark that are considered the most dangerous to man. A fantasic book for both shark and history buffs alike!! I cannot recommend it highly enough!! Excellent!!

"In Twelve Days Of Terror" Richard Fernicola presents the reader with a comprehensive history of the New Jersey Shark Attacks of 1916. In the process, he paints a fascinating portrait of an era that exists solely as collective nostalgia for many of us today. The attacks are presented within the context of the era, so the reader is brought back to a time before television, when newspapers fought to outdo each other with spectacular headlines and our own shores were more of a mystery than the depths of Africa.

In telling the story of the attacks, Fernicola uses an informal, almost conversational style that is frequently in the first person. While this would be anathema in most history, it is highly effective in this instance. Given that his topic is not widely remembered, and that what is remembered has devolved into pseudo-mythology, this casual style captures the "novel-esque" feel of the story, while presenting the hard facts. Of particular interest was how he set the stage for the attacks: war was raging in Europe, there was a polio epidemic in New York City, submarines were cruising the coast, and the Jersey Shore was a last bastion of elegance and innocence that was about to be shattered. By presenting history in this manner, he creates a big picture view of not only the attacks themselves, but also what they did to the psyche of the nation.

All style and setting aside, however, Fernicola is a medical doctor and scientist who systematically presents the fruits of his substantial research and interviews with witnesses and experts. Each attack is examined in detail: the attack patterns, the nature of the injuries (which are quite gruesome, be warned), treatments offered, etc. Then, after providing the reader with a thorough portrait of the attacks, both individually and as a whole, he builds a case for the species which he thinks committed the attacks, and whether or not it was one or several sharks. While he makes a compelling argument for that a white shark committed the attacks, in the finest tradition of research he both presents, and discusses in detail, competing theories.

I have only two small complaints about this book. The first is perhaps inevitable given the informal writing style, but it bothered me nonetheless. Fernicola frequently will meander off topic as he recounts interesting historical tidbits, only to abruptly return to the topic at hand. The effect can be jarring and there were several passages that I had to reread in order to pick up the flow of the narrative again. The second complaint is that he refers to shark attacks as "vicious" at least fifty times over the course of the work. I find this troubling since "vicious" implies a malicious premeditation that a shark is obviously incapable of. The complaint isn't just semantics either, given the already terrible reputation that sharks enjoy among most people.

Ultimately though, those are minor complaints about an otherwise fascinating book. Fernicola has written a history that is as informative as it is easy to read. In particular, this makes for a great summertime read; the author paints such a wonderful portrait of the shore that this currently landlocked New Englander felt as if he was right on the ocean. You'll probably want to avoid "Twelve Days of Terror" if you have a weak stomach, but most people, whether they are interested in marine biology or not, will find this an excellent read.

Enjoy!

Having recently finished "Close to Shore" - another book about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks -I was keen to read Richard Fernicola's "Twelve Days of Terror". The respective writing styles are quite different with the former book adopting more of a novelistic approach while the latter offers a detailed scientific analysis of the attacks . For those who are new to the subject the first book will provide an excellent introduction to this extraordinary historical event. If you really want to get all the facts, however, you need to read Dr Fernicola's definitive case study but you should understand that there is alot of very detailed information which could prove to be a bit "Heavy Going" unless you are a serious student of shark research.

Could not put it down. Read the entire book in 3 commutes to NYC. As a Jersey shore resident, I was totally taken by the true tales of the past. The depiction of the Jersey beach communities of that era made me want to be there. (Its kind of a cross between Somewhere in Time, Titanic and Jaws) The detective work made me feel like I was in the story. It'll be tough to swim in the ocean again......

Obviously I read this book to learn more about the 1916 shark attacks but I had no idea I would learn of untouched German scientific/military attributes. The author must have easily spent thousands of hours and read thousands of primary sources to glean so many new facts about the tumultuous times. It is no wonder that would-be(or wanna-be) historians do "double takes" when Fernicola reveals astounding facts of the period. That always seems to happen when earlier researchers simply rely on out-dated/traditional texts(written by scholars for hire or hoobyists)to determine what was "history." This book looks at things in a novel light and SHEDS light on un-noticed events of the time eg. Franz Von Rintalin the German Dark Invader and the U-Boats(seen and unseen). This is history LIVE. It is history that is recorded out of the way people of the TIME saw it. It's not just some product of an armchair geezer getting bonked by what he always thought was true. This is all true....and scary...