THEIR stories are separated by 80 years but the details remain horrifyingly close.
Reginald ‘‘Rex’’ Ogilvie, a 24-year-old fitter and lifesaving captain, was swimming off Redhead Beach on October 31, 1932, when a shark tackled him three times and ripped out part of his chest to expose a lung.
Stories of the time tell of a deep-red blood stain trailing him as he desperately struggled to get the 75 metres back to shore.
Glen ‘‘Lenny’’ Folkard, a tattoo artist and surfer, was in the same patch of water when what was believed to be a great white shark attacked him on Wednesday, taking a large chunk out of his upper right leg.
Read about the attack on Mr Folkard, see a gallery of photos from the aftermath of the event, and watch a video from Redhead Beach by clicking here.
Just like Mr Ogilvie decades before, Mr Folkard had to fight off the predator and left a long trail of blood as he was helped to shore, while seeing the shark following for another possible lunge.
He was in a stable condition yesterday.
News of the latest incident, the first shark attack on that stretch of beach since 1932, has brought details of the attack on her late father flooding back for Mr Ogilvie’s daughter, Black Hill resident Jeanette Fraser.
Mr Ogilvie was just beginning a swim late on October 31, 1932, when he was attacked three times by a shark, which grabbed his torso and under his arm, causing enough trauma to expose one of his lungs.
He made it back to shore, where he collapsed in front of the only person on the beach, a woman, and exclaimed: ‘‘I’m done.’’
He beat the odds, including waiting on the beach for an ambulance, which had to come from Newcastle.
He spent 29 weeks recuperating in hospital.
He married Mary several years later and they had two children.
He died in 1979, succumbing to pneumonia following a car accident.
His family believe his lungs never recovered from the shark attack.
‘‘My lasting memories were that his lung would collapse every now and then and he would have to be treated,’’ Mrs Fraser, 74, said.
‘‘He lost a lot of blood; they say that they found sand in his lungs.’’
Mrs Fraser said her father rarely spoke about the attack, and despite his lung problems, lived a normal life.
‘‘He told us that he punched the shark on the nose to get away but I think the shark just spat him out,’’ she said.
Newspaper clippings at the time painted the dramatic picture of Mr Ogilvie desperately fighting off three separate attacks by the shark.
‘‘Uttering no scream, Ogilvie, who displayed remarkable fortitude, despite his dreadful injuries, swam to shore, staggered up the beach, and collapsed, moaning, ‘I’m done’,’’ one report said.
Email a friend