Massive Shark Suddenly Jumps Onto A Ship, Stunning Those Aboard

Nov 10, 2022

Just the thought of seeing a shark is scary enough. How much more if you see an actual shark in real life? There could be a number of reasons why we’re afraid of sharks, but most probably because we’ve seen how sharks are depicted on screen, whether it be in a National Geographic documentary or a fictional film like Jaws. But imagine seeing a shark up close – and jumping onto the front of your boat. Understandably, that would definitely freak anyone out.

Well, believe it or not, a local, family-run business composed of fishermen from the town of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand had a similar experience while fishing in an open sea.

In a Facebook post, Churchy’s Charters NZ shared a video where a shark suddenly jumped onto their ship while they were busy filming their colleague catch some fish.

And we’re not just talking about any sharks but an actual Mako Shark that weighed 150 kilos. In case you didn’t know, Shortfin Mako Sharks are some of the fastest-known species of shark.

One might say that the men aboard the ship might have felt frightened when they saw it jump onto their ship before their very eyes. But no, it was exactly the opposite of it. Instead of freaking out, they started shouting for joy after seeing the shark.

“Crazy moment when a Mako Shark jumped onto the front of the boat!” Churchy’s Charters NZ wrote in a Facebook post.

Ryan Churches, a skipper or the person manning the vessel at that time, told Sunrise that they previously had the shark hooked before it jumped onto their ship.

“We had him hooked for about five minutes previously to that and he’s jumping around giving us a bit of a show,” Churches revealed. 

“Then, he sort of just turned around and decided to come and join us,” he added.

“We were fighting it normally and it was jumping around. I told the customers if it jumps in the boat get out of the way,” he told the NZ Herald, sharing what he said to his customers.

When asked about his reaction when he saw the shark, he said: “It all happened so quickly you know. And I was pretty surprised to be fair. Like ‘Oh well, he’s on the front of the boat.’”

But the next thing that came to mind was how he was going to take it off the boat. “The main thing that went through my head is ‘How am I going to take this thing off?’” he said. 

Churches also shared how they got the shark off the boat, saying they had to remove the anchor blocking the shark.

“We sort of noticed that his nose was pointing down towards the anchor there. So, the anchor sort of blocks that way through the bow rail a bit,” he said.

“So, we put the anchor down on a couple of feet and it’s sort of you know did a couple of wiggles and did slid out on the front thankfully so lucky to have windscreens though,” he added.

Churches admitted it was the weirdest thing he had encountered throughout the years that he had been fishing at sea.

Of course, people had mixed reactions after watching the video. While people were amazed by how big the shark that jumped in was, there were also some who said they felt scared.

“That would be scary,” one user wrote. “Bet that gave you a fright,” another user said.

In the end, Churches said the shark got away safely.

How would you react if you encountered a shark jumping onto a ship you were in? Would you have felt scared? Let us know your thoughts, and pass this on to your family and friends who might find this story interesting.