What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916?

＂On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-three-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water at Beach Haven, New Jersey--the first recorded shark attack in American history. Scientists claimed a shark could not be responsible, but more deadly attacks soon followed along the Jersey Shore and up the freshwater Matawan Creek, setting off a nationwide panic that led the White House to declare a war on sharks＂--

Nico Medina is the author of more than a dozen books in the Who HQ series, including What Was World War I?, Who Was Jacques Cousteau?, and Where Is the Great Barrier Reef? He spent many of his childhood summer days in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, the ＂Shark Bite Capital of the World,＂ where Jaws always seemed to be playing on TV.