They were swimmers trying to move another swimmer through open water.
Behind them, the shark continued to appear.
It is difficult to imagine a more vulnerable position.
What Kind of Shark Was It?
Today, the species involved in many historical shark attacks remains uncertain.
The Wilson case is different.
Bolin examined the evidence soon after the event.
His analysis included eyewitness descriptions, the nature and spacing of Wilson’s injuries, the shark’s visible physical characteristics and its behavior.
He identified the animal as Carcharodon carcharias—the white shark, commonly called the great white shark.
Later shark-attack research has continued to cite Wilson’s death as a landmark case precisely because Bolin’s work was unusually systematic.
A NOAA-hosted review of shark-human interactions described his investigation as one of the first detailed on-site investigations of a shark attack conducted by a qualified field observer. It highlighted his analysis of weather, the chronology, rescue efforts, possible causes, photographs and medical descriptions of the injuries.
In other words, this was not merely a newspaper guessing that a frightening-looking shark must have been a great white.
There was a genuine scientific investigation.
Bolin also estimated the animal’s size.
Based on the available evidence, the shark was roughly 12 to 15 feet long.
For the men swimming beside Wilson, that meant an animal several times heavier than a human could have been moving beneath them in water where they could see only a few feet.
Why Was the Shark So Persistent?
This is the question that gives the Wilson case its disturbing character.
A simplified version of many shark attacks follows a familiar pattern.
A shark approaches.
It bites.
Then it retreats.
Researchers have proposed several explanations for why some white-shark encounters with humans involve a single bite followed by disengagement. Humans are not generally considered normal prey for white sharks, whose diets vary with age but can include fish, rays and, among larger individuals, marine mammals.
But Wilson’s case did not end after one brief contact.
The animal stayed involved.
Why?
We cannot know exactly what was happening inside the shark’s sensory world in 1952.
It is possible, however, to distinguish observation from speculation.
What witnesses reported was an animal continuing to follow or approach the rescue group after Wilson had been badly injured.
Blood was now in the water.
Wilson’s movements had changed.
Multiple swimmers were clustered around him.
The inner tube and the struggling group created considerable disturbance at the surface.
All of those conditions made the scene radically different from the moments before the first attack.
That does not mean the shark had suddenly decided to “hunt the rescuers.”
Bolin’s report is valuable precisely because it avoids turning animal behavior into human motives.
The shark behaved like a powerful predator interacting with an unusual and rapidly changing situation.
But to the people in the water, motive did not matter.
Whether the animal was feeding, investigating or reacting to movement, the danger was the same.
It kept coming close.
The Rescuers Reached the Breakers
Slowly, the group made progress.
The coastline grew closer.
The water became shallower.
But shallow water did not automatically mean safety.
The shark had already demonstrated that it was willing to approach near the breaker line.
The rescuers still had to cross the final stretch.
Waves complicated the effort.
Wilson had to remain supported.
The men themselves were becoming exhausted.
Eventually, after what must have felt impossibly long, they reached shore.
The shark did not follow them onto land.
The ordeal in the water was over.
But the rescue had come too late for Barry.
A physician examined him.
Wilson was dead.
He was 17 years old.
The Injuries Revealed How Violent the Encounter Had Been
Bolin’s investigation documented extensive injuries.
The medical evidence was important not merely for understanding how Wilson died, but also for identifying the shark and reconstructing the sequence of contact.