The Real-Life Story Everyone Associates With 'Jaws' Isn't the One That Inspired It

It’s been 52 years since the publication of Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel "Jaws," which was followed by the famous film adaptation the following year, directed by Steven Spielberg and co-scripted by Benchley and Carl Gottlieb. However, the novel, which became a bestseller and sold millions of copies, had its roots in reality: Benchley had a lifelong interest in sharks and shark attacks, which created an interest in exploring this idea in fictional form.

A newspaper article the author encountered in 1964 would provide particular inspiration for his book. And while Benchley denied taking inspiration from another notable real-life incident, the 1916 Jersey shark attacks, this saga does have fascinating parallels with the events of the novel, and the author highlighted that it proved the scenario in the novel could also take place in reality. Here’s a look at the real-life shark incidents which have connections to the novel and the film.

The Real-Life Shark Behind Jaws

Benchley’s initial inspiration stemmed from a 1964 newspaper article: it reported that a fisherman named Frank Mundus had caught a great white shark while fishing off the coast of Montauk, New York, which weighed the startling amount of two tons. The idea of an immensely large shark fired Benchley’s imagination: he had long been interested in sharks and had wondered about the idea of a shark so large it was capable of terrorizing the public.

A real-life example of such a large shark being found helped to convince him that this was possible. He went into more detail about the existence of shark attacks in an essay for Holiday magazine in 1967. All this would help to lay the groundwork for his subsequent novel.

The concept of a shark attacking and killing multiple people was not unfounded: many people have drawn parallels with the story in the novel to a series of shark attacks which took place in Jersey in 1916. In July that year (110 years ago this month), four people were killed and a fifth person injured by a great white shark at a number of locations along the shore of Jersey.

The shark travelled along a 70-mile stretch of the coast during its reign of terror, which lasted from July 1 to 12, generating national news coverage and public panic. Eventually, the shark was caught and killed when it tried to attack another boat, which brought the period of fear to an end.

The Shark Attacks Everyone Gets Wrong

It was long thought that the 1916 shark attacks had been a direct inspiration for Benchley in writing the novel; however, following a New York Times article in 2001, a correction was subsequently published in which the author denied this: “An article on Wednesday and one in the New Jersey section on Sunday about fears over sharks referred incorrectly to the inspiration for the 1974 novel ’'Jaws.’'”

Its author, Peter Benchley, says the book was not inspired by attacks off New Jersey in 1916. However, Benchley did acknowledge in the introduction to one of his editions of the novel that the situation had parallels to the events of the novel, and cited it as evidence that the scenario in the book was not far-fetched:

“Did sharks…stay in one area, killing and killing again? Darn right. Remember the shark that went up a New Jersey river in 1916 and killed four people? Time and again, I confidently assured interviewers that every single incident described in 'Jaws'...had actually happened.”

Jaws was a controversial work among the science community: some scientists believed it fueled prejudice against sharks and wrongly pushed the idea that they habitually preyed on humans.

However, the rise of awareness and interest in the existence of sharks in the aftermath of the film also brought about new research into them as a species and eventually helped to improve public understanding of their importance in the ocean ecosystem. The real-life shark attacks and their parallels with the events in the novel and film would ultimately lead to a greater understanding of sharks in the real world.

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