Coast Guard opens fire on shark as crew swims in Pacific Ocean, video shows

A recent afternoon swim call for the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Kimball at sea in the Pacific Ocean turned out to be anything but routine, video shows.

The footage, posted Tuesday to the ship’s Facebook page, shows 30 to 40 swimmers in the ocean, along with an inflatable unicorn.

“Everything was by the numbers,” the post reads. “Everyone was having a great day. Everyone was smiling and having fun. It was perfect! And then... bridge personnel reported ‘Shark!’ over the radio.“

An armed crewman aboard the cutter on shark watch opens fire on the 6- to 8-foot shark to drive it away from the swimmers scrambling from the ocean, the video shows.

“It wasn’t the panic of the 4th of July scene from JAWS, but once everyone realized what was happening, they moved with a purpose!” reads the post.

The shark turns away from the swimmers with each burst of gunfire, then swings back as the crewman opens fire again, the video shows.

Swimmers climbed aboard the cutter and a small boat that was launched earlier as part of the swim call. One man suffered a scraped knee climbing aboard.

“We even saved the inflatable unicorn!” the post reads.

The shark, identified as a possible mako or thresher, did not appear to be injured, according to the post.

“Our goal was to keep it away from shipmates, not harm it if possible,” the Facebook post reads. “It was most likely curious and not looking for a meal.”

“We have hundreds of years at sea between all of us and no one has seen or heard of a shark actually showing up during a swim call,” reads the Facebook post, which notes the crew is now rewriting procedures for dealing with sharks.

The top request by the crew for movies that night was a double-feature of “Jaws” and “Sharknado,” the post says.

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 10:10 AM with the headline "Coast Guard opens fire on shark as crew swims in Pacific Ocean, video shows."