What would you do if you were just sailing along and...

Great white shark leaps onto research boat.

Please note, I didn't make that headline up. 

Editor's notes will appear in italics. 

I like to call myself an editor.

 

 

A great white shark has been rescued by crane after it leapt out of the ocean and became stranded on a boat.

The 500kg (1,100lb), 3m (9.84ft) long animal was attracted to bait thrown by a research team conducting a shark count South Africa's Mossel Bay.

Team leader Dorien Schroder said she and her colleagues were "chumming" - throwing fish matter - into the water around the boat on Monday in an attempt to draw sharks closer so they could be identified and counted.

I think the wisdom of "chumming" for Great White Sharks needs to be reconsidered.

"I heard a splash and looked back to see a shark pretty much mid-air hovering above one of my interns," she told the BBC.

Talk about about a poo your pants moment.

Ms Schroder said she pulled her colleague to safety in the stern of the ship and could see the panicking shark already had half its body on board, head first. Sharks are only able to move forward, so in its thrashing it hauled itself entirely onto the boat until it became wedged between the engines and some containers.

The crew initially tried to drag the fish off the boat once it had calmed down (Who is coming up with these ideas?)  but then decided to return to port so it could be lifted off by crane. Rescuers kept it wet and put a hosepipe in its mouth to keep it breathing. Once back in the water, the shark appeared confused by the busy environment of the harbour, said the researchers.

So they let the Great White go in the harbor, where all the people are. That makes a lot of sense. I'm getting the idea these researchers were being funded by a government grant.

It beached itself and had to be rescued a second time, before it was hauled out to sea and made its way to safety.

Apparently the shark wasn't too bright either.

"This must have been an incredibly stressful experience for the shark," said Ryan Johnson, who was involved in the rescue. "These sharks belong in the sea, they don't belong on land."

A very astute observation from this gentlemen who I'm sure has multiple doctorates from a respectable university.
 
Great whites are known to fully jump out of the water while hunting prey like seals, but the animal is not thought to have attacked the boat deliberately.  

Another brilliant bit of information from the BBC.
 
The shark damaged fuel lines and some of the fibreglass of the boat, but the vessel was repaired and back in action counting sharks the following day.

I'm so glad the boats safe...