The Shark That Started a Murder Investigation

There’s something fishy about the story of the shark and the severed arm

Tiger shark in shallow water. Photo by Gerald Schömbs on Unsplash

You’ve probably seen the same infographic doing the rounds on social media that I have, telling the story of the fisherman who caught a shark that threw up an arm and triggered a murder investigation. Pretty cool, right? I thought so too, until I started reading more about what happened, and discovered I was left with more questions than answers.

The shark infographic. “In 1935, fishermen caught a tiger shark and put it on display at an aquarium in Sydney, where it vomited a human arm. A shark expert concluded that the shark had not bitten it off, and the limb had been cleanly removed with a blade. The arm also had a tattoo, which revealed that it belonged to a man who had gone missing a few weeks earlier, resulting in a murder investigation and arrest of the criminals.”

So what’s the story?

The original events happened in the early summer of 1935, and despite there being many witnesses around for almost every part of it, the story still changes with each telling.

What we know for certain is that in 1933–34, the Coogee Pier was demolished, taking with it the primary tourist attractions in that area of Sydney. The surviving Coogee Aquarium and Swimming Baths, under the ownership of Charles Hobson, struggled to stay open.

In late 1934 through early 1935, there had been several fatal shark attacks¹ along the New South Wales coast, and bounty hunters began slaughtering sharks in the waters…