One day at Havana harbor, Cuba, TR decided to take a swim in the Caribbean. He wanted to inspect the wreck of the Merrimac, some three hundred yards out to sea, and persuaded an unenthusiastic lieutenant, Jack Greenway, to go with him. They had scarcely entered the water when General Fitzhugh Lee, who had climbed up on the parapet of Fort Morro, began to yell at them.
”Can you make out what he’s trying to say?” asked TR, still swimming.
”Sharks,” said Greenway, wishing he was back on shore.
”Sharks?” said TR, blowing out a mouthful of water and punctuating his words with strokes. “They – won’t – bite. I’ve – been – studying them – all my life – and I never – heard of one – bothering a swimmer. It’s all – poppycock.”
Just then a big shark showed up alongside the swimmers; it was soon joined by several others. But TR paid them no attention. Meanwhile General Lee continued shouting and gesticulating. Finally the swimmers reached the Merrimac, which TR eagerly examined while his companion kept thinking of sharks and hoping they would get back to shore unharmed.
”After a while,” Greenway said afterward, TR “had seen enough, and we went over the side again. Soon the sharks were all about us again, sort of pacing us in, as they had paced us out, while the old general did the second part of his war dance. He felt a lot better when we landed, and so did I.”
Source:
Boller, Paul F. “Theodore Roosevelt.” Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. 203-4. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Morris, Rise of Roosevelt, 658-59.
Further Reading:
[USS Merrimac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Merrimac_(1894)
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