iStockphoto / Alessandro De Maddalena
A group of fishermen in Scituate, Massachusetts had an extremely closer encounter with a great white shark earlier this month when the massive shark popped up right next to their boat and appeared to nibble on their engine.
The white shark appeared to be quite interested in the fishing vessel and while it never appeared to pose a threat to the boat or boaters it seemed as if the shark was using its mouth to explore what the vessel might be, perhaps confusing it for a whale carcass depending on whether they fishermen had chum in the water.
A video taken from one of the people on board was shared by the AccuWeather TikTok channel and you can hear the people on the boat joking “is he going to bite the boat, dude?” It’s unclear just how large the great white shark is and in some angles it looks like a juvenile while in other angles it appears to be nearly as long as the boat itself. Check it out:
Reports of white shark sightings in Massachusetts have been commonplace all Summer, though that has been the case more and more each year over the past decade in and around the Cape. With an estimated 50,000+ harbor and gray seals in Cape Cod alone, it has become the hottest spot in the world during Summer months for great white shark activity.
These sharks are being seen right off the beach:
That in mind, there is no chance these boaters expected that great white to pop up and nibble on their engine. Nor would it have felt reassuring to see that massive apex predator so close to the engine which is their only way of getting back to the dock. Still, it must have been an incredible encounter for everyone on board.