Henri Bource (25 March 1934 – 4 September 1998) was a Dutch-Australian

scuba diver Scuba, originally SCUBA, often expanded to scuba set, is any self contained underwater breathing apparatus, a source of breathing gas used for underwater diving which is carried by the diver. Scuba may also refer to: * Scuba diving Scuba ...

, underwater filmmaker, musician and

shark attack A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of ...

survivor who lived and worked in Australia. In 1964, he was attacked by a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

, losing his left leg. In his 1969 documentary film '' Savage Shadows'', he recreated the scene of the attack.

Early life

Bource was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and emigrated to Australia as a teenager in 1954. He learned to use an aqualung with his father and trained as a

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

Shark attack

Bource was attacked by what is believed to have been a 2.4 metre long great white shark off

Lady Julia Percy Island Lady Julia Percy Island, known as ''Deen Maar'' or ''Dhinmar'' in the Gunditjmara language, lies off the coast, in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia in Bass Strait. The island is an unincorporated area under the direct admin ...

in Australia in November 1964. He was 30 years old at the time, and was living in

Hawthorn East Hawthorn East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Hawthorn East recorded a population of 14,834 at the 2021 census. The ...

. He lost his left leg but survived the attack and went on to retell the story in his 1969 documentary film, '' Savage Shadows''. He continued to dive, wearing a modified diving fin on the stump of his left leg. During the 1970s he made a short film for

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

and

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...

called ''Reef of Steel'' and appeared in ''Island Treasure'' in 1981. He was interviewed at various times about his shark attack, including by

Peter Luck Peter Anthony Luck (5 January 1944 – 6 September 2017) was an Australian author, TV journalist, producer and presenter. Career As a television personality, among the shows he worked on were ''This Day Tonight'', ''Four Corners'', ''Sunday'', ...

in 1979.

Music career

Bource was a

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

and band leader of the Henri Bource Allstars. He also played with the Thunderbirds (1960–62), The Planets and The Johnny Donohue Quartet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bource, Henri 1934 births 1998 deaths Shark attack victims Underwater filmmakers Dutch emigrants to Australia Australian amputees Australian artists with disabilities Australian underwater divers Australian saxophonists 20th-century saxophonists 20th-century Australian male musicians 20th-century Australian musicians