The Great Cornish Shark Hoax
Status: Hoax
Kevin Keeble stirred up a lot of excitement when he sent pictures to the Newquay Guardian showing a great white shark that he claimed to have spotted about a mile off the coast of Cornwall. At the time he said, "We were out about one mile off Towan Head and I saw this fin in the distance. We were reeling in the mackerel but I picked up my camera and caught a picture with my telephoto lens. The shark was about 100ft away. It was only there for a few seconds before it disappeared." A shark mania ensued. Others sharks were spotted, but they turned out to be harmless basking sharks.
Now Keeble has changed his tune, confessing that it was all a hoax. He's told a rival paper that he actually took the photo of the shark, "whilst I was on a fishing trip in Cape Town and just sent it in as a joke. I didn't expect anyone to be daft enough to take it seriously."
So it's once again safe to go swimming in Cornwall.
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There was a theory, some time back, that what with gobal warming and so -on, the waters would soon be warm enough round Cornwall for Great White's, so it's not all that far-fetched. More believable than if he'd said it was off the coast of Scarborough. And there are already basking and tiger sharks there.
It's a shame it was debunked though. I was planning to go down to Newquay and reneact that bit on Jaws with the dog.
Posted by Nona on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 07:06 AM
It's a shame it was debunked though. I was planning to go down to Newquay and reneact that bit on Jaws with the dog.
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