Randy Fry was diving with his close friend, Cliff Zimmerman, when his life was cut short off the shore of Fort Bragg, California.

3

3

Zimmerman recalled seeing a fin between himself and Fry before hearing the shark as it attacked, The Mirror US reports.

The fisherman said: “I heard a noise, like ‘whoosh,’ like a submarine, like a boat going by fast. It was a shark. He came for the kill. It was over in five seconds.”

Fry’s body was found torn apart with his head brutally ripped from his body.

Northern California Skin Diver’s Club (NCSDC) later revealed his tragic last wish in an obituary.

Friend and NCSDC member, Jim Martin, wrote: “Randy had said to Cliff many times: if he had to go, he wanted to go in the water.”

The shark was identified as a great white, estimated to be around 18 feet long and marking the 10th fatal attack ever recorded in the area.

Fry and Zimmerman had been in the water searching for abalone, having trolled for fish earlier in the day.

In just 15 feet of water, the shark is said to have struck Randy with an instantly killing blow, according to experts and witnesses, eventually decapitating the diver.

Overshadowed by steep cliffs, in an area only accessible to people by boat, it is likely that the shark mistook Randy for a meal.

Great white sharks commonly use decapitation as a hunting method on their primary food source: seals.

Following the attack, his diving partner swam back to the boat and was pulled aboard by the lookout, Red Bartley, on their boat.

Bartley spoke to his view of the attack: “When I saw the pool of blood spread across the surface of the water, I knew Randy was gone.” 

“It was over in five seconds.”

When Fry couldn’t be found through the pool of blood in the water, the two men on the boat called in a Mayday on the VHF Radio.

His body was found and pulled from the water on Monday.

The NCSDC has set up a memorial fund through the Recreational
Fishing Alliance, of which all of the men were members, the “Randy Fry Memorial Fund.”

3