On Friday afternoon, while a lad was fishing in a small boat in the outer harbor of Newport, his boat was attacked in a most ferocious manner by a Shark.— After the first attack, the Shark jumped from the ocean into the boat which from its flouncing he would have sunk, had not another boat near at hand, come to the relief of the boy. With great difficulty the sea monster wan killed. He measured eight feet in length, was of the most ferocious kind of sharks called by mariners man eater. He weighed between three and four hundred.
The Massachusetts Spy, Worcester, MA, October 12, 1831