I have counted this case as historical for two reasons. One, it was the first recorded attack by a Great White shark in California waters, and two, because of the eyewitness testimony, this case provided a thorough study in shark attack, which before this time, did not exist.

December 7th, 1952, Point Aulone, California. Seventeen year old Barry Wilson and a host of friends are swimming in cold water about thirty feet deep. Surf was running high at eight feet, and visibility was murky, limited to 6-8 feet. A man standing about thirty feet away from the spot where Barry was swimming saw Wilson suddenly jerk around, peering in all directions. Just then, a shark appeared, deliberatly approaching the youth at the surface. It struck from the front, heaving the boy out of the water to about the level of his knees. He fell back in to the water and disappeared into the surf, pushing and hitting the sharks' back with his hands. He soon reappeared in in the center of a pool of blood, screaming for help while frantically slapping the water with his hands. The shark was seen twice more circling his victim, and then momentarily disappeared from view.

One of his friends swam to his aid, joined by members of a skin diving club who had been swimming some 150-200 yards away. As they attempted to pass an inflated rubber tube around Wilson, his body lunged forward as if he had been pushed from behind. The men started towards the shore, a journey that lasted twenty minutes, with the shark following them the whole time. During this time, the shark made no more attempts at Wilson, or his rescuers, it just followed them.

When they reached the shore, Wilson was already dead, having suffered severe wounds and loss of blood. The lower right buttock had been removed, and practically all muscles on the back of the right leg, from hip to knee had been taken. The femur was exposed for almost three quarters of it's length. His left leg had less severe wounds, from which the coclusion was drawn that the most likely attacker was a Great White, 12-13 feet long.

The shark had apparently struck Wilson four times. Once, on the left leg, producing the startled response observed by the man on the shore; second, on the inner right thigh, lifting him out of the water; third, on the upper right leg when Wilson desperately struck the surface; and a fourth time on the back and right side when he was being placed in the tube by rescuers.

This was the first shark attack that had been documented so well by eye-witnesses, and has since become the working model for shark attack.