It started with a suspected shark and a beach closure described as “super calm”… but within 48 hours, Jersey apparently had a great white terrorising the English Channel, lifeguards heroically boxing 12-foot predators, and panicked swimmers fleeing for their lives.
Earlier this week, Express reported that St Ouen’s Bay was closed on Saturday following a reported shark sighting after what appeared to be a shark was spotted around 40 metres offshore.
RNLI lifeguard Tom Rolls explained that colleague Nick had paddled directly over the animal on a rescue board before it darted away.
“He even said he kind of punched it as he was paddling, so it must have been really close to the surface,” Tom recalled. The emphasis, of course, being on “kind of”.
By the time the story had completed its lap of Fleet Street, however, subtlety had left the building.
The Mirror’s headline declared that “lifeguard punched 12 foot shark to save swimmers on UK beach”, whilst The Daily Star said: “Massive 12ft shark forces emergency beach closure as panic hits English Channel.”
GB News proclaimed “brave lifeguard punched massive 12ft shark as panicked swimmers flee to safety”, whilst informing readers via social media that “huge sharks, suspected to be great whites” were swimming around the English Channel.
The species of shark seen at St Ouen’s has not been formally identified – or indeed, even confirmed as a shark – but was most likely a basking shark or a smalltooth sand tiger shark.
Tom’s recollection of events was rather more understated than many of the national reports that followed.
“Everyone was super calm about it,” the lifeguard told Express on Sunday. “There were lots of surprised looks, obviously – us included – as it’s never happened before.”
By the following day, however, readers elsewhere in Britain were being told of “panicked swimmers fleeing to safety”, “terror in the English Channel” and lifeguards punching enormous sharks.
You’re at far greater risk from everyday things like sunburn or a riptide than you are from a shark
Tamsin Raine
Meanwhile, in Jersey, Ocean Culture Life co-founder Tamsin Raine said the sighting was “genuinely exciting” and should be seen as evidence of “a healthy, thriving marine environment”.
“The Channel Islands are home to a number of shark species, including porbeagle, basking, blue and tope sharks and their presence is something to be celebrated, not feared,” she explained.
“Basking sharks, despite being one of the largest fish in our waters, are gentle filter feeders that only eat plankton.
“In fact, you’re at far greater risk from everyday things like sunburn or a riptide than you are from a shark.
“Unfortunately, decades of films like Jaws have left sharks with an unfair reputation.”
Marine Resources also stressed that sharks are a natural part of Jersey’s marine environment and that species regularly encountered around the Island are not known to pose a risk to swimmers.
The beach itself reopened around an hour after the sighting, with no injuries, no incidents and no further sign of the animal.
Still, if nothing else, the episode has provided Jersey with an unexpected export – one slightly startled lifeguard who may now go down in national folklore as ‘the man who punched a great white’…
