A 12-foot-long tiger shark has been terrifying the Island ? well at least terrifying those people who received copies of the pictures of the monster caught in local waters which have been e-mailed around Bermuda during the past two days.

The shark looked so frightening that some suspected it might have been a hoax, or at least caught somewhere else, but one of the pictures clearly shows a Bermudian home in the background and has been able to verify some of the story behind the epic battle to capture the shark and tow it back to land.

A fishing trip to Challenger Banks some 13 miles southwest of the Island led to the hooking of the 800-pound shark, but it took two hours to finally reel in the giant of the sea. And the shark did not give up without a mighty struggle, pulling the boat for miles through the water as it struggled to break free.

Fellow fisherman Michael Barnes caught a similar-sized tiger shark in the same location on the same day and saw his son-in-law Brian Hines and his friends battling to secure their prize catch.

"Those sharks come up to that area every year at this time. They come up real thick in August. Most people hook them and then release them," said Mr. Barnes.

While fishing at Challenger Banks he also saw a 30-foot Whale Shark in the water.

Mr. Barnes said fisherman Darrell Steynor, who caught the shark, had taken two hours to bring it under control and tie it up so that it could be brought back to Bermuda.

The shark that Mr. Barnes caught and the one that Mr. Steynor caught, and is pictured in the e-mail photos, have been cut up and all the meat will be used for meals like shark hash and for bait to catch lobsters, said Mr. Barnes.

He stressed this was important as it is known that some Japanese fishing boats catch sharks purely for the fish's fins.

Mr. Barnes said: "The ones we catch are totally utilised."

Tiger sharks are relatively slow moving and when the sea temperature is near its peak they come close to Bermuda and tourists can virtually touch them as they swim near fishing boats offshore.

Last year Mr. Barnes caught a tiger shark that was found to have a full size turtle in its stomach.

This newspaper has tried to contact fishermen Mr. Steynor and Mr. Hines who were involved in catching the shark to hear their story, but both were busy fishing as we went to press.