Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Samarai Island South End Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea — December 25, 1956
Original historical summary
The original reference is retained below. Supplementary source details appear in the fact panel; protected facts and unresolved differences remain unchanged.
A historical reference describes an event at Samarai Island South End Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea in 1956-12-25. Recorded activity: Spearfishing. Classification: Unprovoked. Outcome: Fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Samarai Island South End Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea.
- Date: 1956-12-25.
- Activity: Spearfishing.
- Classification: Unprovoked.
- Outcome: Fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- A tiger shark was reportedly caught later; this does not independently identify the shark involved.
- This restoration uses a supplied historical summary citing the general GSAF incident log, not a case-level primary document. It has not been independently verified.
- The supplied source lists 1956-12-26; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- December 25, 1956
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Samarai Island South End Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
- Activity
- Spearfishing
- Incident classification
- Unprovoked
- Area / state
- Milne Bay Province
- Person / vessel
- Patterson (John) Nikuniko
- Age
- 19.0
- Sex
- M
- Time
- 13h00
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Species
- Tiger shark
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Samarai Island (south end), Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
Approximate area: Milne Bay Province
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for Milne Bay Province from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- Historical incident log (general reference) — Global Shark Attack FileSupports: General reference cited by the supplied historical summary; not independently checked against a case-level record.
- GSAF-derived structured public mirror (sascha-pst/bullish_on_sharks/global_shark_attacks.csv) — github.comSupports: Supplementary historical fields; existing reviewed facts retained
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-04.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.