---
title: Watch This Video of Two Men Saving a Beached Great White Shark's Life
description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it.”
canonical: https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/
author: Tanya Basu
article:opinion: false
article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2015-07-14T19:01:19.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:44.337Z
og:title: Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark
og:description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it"
og:url: https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/
og:site_name: TIME
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og:image:alt: TIME
og:type: article
twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:title: Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark
twitter:description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it"
twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production
---
# Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark
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> Last updated: August 2026.
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## Video: 5 Elements of A Viral Video
[Watch (HLS stream): 5 Elements of A Viral Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8) (1:31)
_Published 2015-06-22. 5 Elements of A Viral Video_
by
[Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)
## Tanya Basu
Jul 14, 2015 7:01 PM UTC
by
[Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)
## Tanya Basu
Jul 14, 2015 7:01 PM UTC
A new video shows the dramatic rescue of a beached great white shark off the coast of Chatham, Mass. on Monday.
The video, posted to YouTube, shows the great white gasping for breath, its tail desperately flipping on the beach, as onlookers watch, concerned. The film then cuts to two men—who have been [identified](http://providencejournal.com/article/20150714/NEWS/150719676/SHARED/st%5FrefDomain=t.co%26st%5FrefQuery=/3aZLBkbXgT/?Start=1) as harbormaster Stuart Smith and shark expert Gregory Skomal—who are shown scooping buckets of water and splashing the shark, which at first is unresponsive, then shudders awake to cheers and encouragement. The men then tie a string onto the weakened shark’s tail and connect it to a boat, which pulls the shark into the water.
The men gingerly untie the string from the shark’s tail and guide it into the open water by boat.
“Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it,” Smith remembered Skomal saying at the time.
### Three Shark Photographers You Need to Follow
The water column is a three-dimensional habitat for sharks. Instead of traveling horizontally across the ocean, many species, like blacktip sharks, bounce up and down, repeatedly descending and ascending through the water column, in hopes of picking up any signs of prey. Aliwal Shoal, South Africa. Thomas P. Peschak
A Red Sea Silky Shark. To survive in the vastness of the open ocean, Silky sharks rely on their boldness and curiosity to investigate every opportunity that might yield a meal. Sharks make up for their lack of hands to investigate things, with thousands of tiny pores, called the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which line the shark’s snout. Northern Red Sea. Thomas P. Peschak
The whale shark is the world’s largest fish, born with unique spotted skin patterns, which don’t change significantly as the animal ages. Scientists are using the latest in space technology developed by NASA, for fingerprinting and identifying whale sharks based on their spots. In this image scientists from the conservation NGO Manta Trust are measuring a sub-adult whale shark in Baa Atoll, Maldives. Thomas P. Peschak
Bronze Whaler sharks are the most abundant sharks during the sardine run off South Africa’s east coast every June/July. Hundreds of them patrol the margins of baitballs and charge into the seething mass of fish singly or in small groups to feed. Thomas P. Peschak
Shark fins are the key ingredient of shark fin a soup, a dish frequenlty consumed at weddings and banquets in China. It is primarily served to demonstrate wealth and honor guests. Thomas P. Peschak
Head and gills of Juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna Lewini), Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii - Pacific Ocean. Jeff Rotman
Close-up of Spiny Dogfish Shark (Squalus acanthias) born prematurely with egg sac attached. New England, North Atlantic Jeff Rotman
Gills of a Lemon Shark at night. Jeff Rotman
Eye of Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus), Cocos Island, Costa Rica - Pacific Ocean. Jeff Rotman
Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezi). Bahamas, Caribbean Sea. Jeff Rotman
An image of Mike Coots taken by his friend Juan Oliphant as they are swimming surrounded by sharks. ©JuanOliphant/@Juansharks
![Mike Coots “hangs out” with a great white. As he is frequently asked if he is afraid to go back to the water after the attack, Coots has no doubt: “I am positive I was attacked as mistaken identity and the last couple of days \[swimming with the sharks\] really reiterated the point. Humans are not sharks' prey.”](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45be518944f193a1/6988556755a85964a2a8c966/10693681_566496753497226_1727569935_n.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp)
Mike Coots “hangs out” with a great white. As he is frequently asked if he is afraid to go back to the water after the attack, Coots has no doubt: “I am positive I was attacked as mistaken identity and the last couple of days \[swimming with the sharks\] really reiterated the point. Humans are not sharks' prey.” Mike Coots
While babysitting his 6-year-old nephew, the little boy showed the toys to Coots. "It's you uncle Mike," he said. Mike Coots
Coots has been able to return to surf after the shark attack, wearing a prosthesis for his right leg. Coots was just a teenager when a tiger shark attacked him in the deep water of Kauai, an area known to be populated by sharks. Mike Coots
Coots took this photograph with Hero3, a waterproof camera. He observed the white shark being hesitant before eating its meal. “Incredibly beautiful to watch and I never felt threatened once. Completely serene,” Coots wrote on his Instagram feed. Mike Coots
_Read next:_ [_Your Risk for Shark Attack Is Lower Now Than 50 Years Ago_](http://time.com/3953597/california-shark-attacks/?iid=time%5Freadnext)
[_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429)
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