<P> As the national media descended on Beach Haven, Spring Lake, and Matawan, the Jersey Shore attacks started a shark panic . According to Capuzzo, this panic was "unrivaled in American history," "sweeping along the coasts of New York and New Jersey and spreading by telephone and wireless, letter and postcard ." At first, after the Beach Haven incident, scientists and the press reluctantly blamed the death of Charles Vansant on a shark . The New York Times reported that Vansant "was badly bitten in the surf...by a fish, presumably a shark ." Still, State Fish Commissioner of Pennsylvania and former director of the Philadelphia Aquarium James M. Meehan asserted in the Philadelphia Public Ledger that the shark was preying on the dog, but bit Vansant by mistake . He specifically de-emphasized the threat sharks posed to humans: </P> <P> Despite the death of Charles Vansant and the report that two sharks having been caught in that vicinity recently, I do not believe there is any reason why people should hesitate to go in swimming at the beaches for fear of man - eaters . The information in regard to the sharks is indefinite and I hardly believe that Vansant was bitten by a man - eater . Vansant was in the surf playing with a dog and it may be that a small shark had drifted in at high water, and was marooned by the tide . Being unable to move quickly and without food, he had come in to bite the dog and snapped at the man in passing . </P> <P> The media's response to the second attack was more sensational . Major American newspapers such as the Boston Herald, Chicago Sun - Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle placed the story on the front page . The New York Times' headline read, "Shark Kills Bather Off Jersey Beach". The growing panic had cost New Jersey resort owners an estimated $250,000 ($5,600,000 in 2017) in lost tourism, and bathing had declined 75 percent in some areas . A press conference was convened on July 8, 1916, at the American Museum of Natural History with scientists Frederic Augustus Lucas, John Treadwell Nichols, and Robert Cushman Murphy as panelists . To calm the growing panic, the three men stressed that a third run in with a shark was unlikely, although they were admittedly surprised that sharks bit anyone at all . Nevertheless, Nichols--the only ichthyologist in the trio--warned swimmers to stay close to shore and to take advantage of the netted bathing areas installed at public beaches after the first attack . </P> <P> Shark sightings increased along the Mid-Atlantic Coast following the attacks . On July 8, armed motorboats patrolling the beach at Spring Creek chased an animal they thought to be a shark, and Asbury Park's Asbury Avenue Beach was closed after lifeguard Benjamin Everingham claimed to have beaten off a 12 - foot (4 m) long shark with an oar . Sharks were spotted near Bayonne, New Jersey; Rocky Point, New York; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Jacksonville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama, and a columnist from Field & Stream captured a sandbar shark in the surf at Beach Haven . Actress Gertrude Hoffmann was swimming at the Coney Island beach shortly after the Matawan fatalities when she claimed to have encountered a shark . The New York Times noted that Hoffman "had the presence of mind to remember that she had read in the Times that a bather can scare away a shark by splashing, and she beat up the water furiously ." Hoffman was certain she was going to be devoured by the "Jersey man - eater", but later admitted she was "not sure...whether she had her trouble for nothing or had barely escaped death ." </P>

Who died in the shark attacks of 1916