LARGEST SHARK ATTACK

Lewis Archer Boren – December 19, 1981 (Fatal-Recovered)
South Moss Beach, Monterey, California, USA

The Pacific waters off the central California coast are notoriously beautiful—rugged, raw, and wild. But they are also home to one of the ocean’s most formidable predators: the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). On December 19, 1981, 24-year-old Lewis Archer Boren, a skilled and passionate surfer, became the victim of the largest white shark ever associated with a verified fatal attack.

The Last Ride

This December day was harsh even by winter surfing standards. The sky was leaden and gray. Winds carved across the ocean in sharp, frigid gusts. Swells driven by an incoming storm reached 15 feet, creating dramatic, crashing surf along the rugged coastline near South Moss Beach, just north of Spanish Bay in Monterey, California.

Lewis had been surfing all morning with a friend, braving the cold and the powerful, rolling waves. The pair eventually exited the water for a break and shared lunch together nearby. After their meal, his friend opted to head home—but Boren, ever the wave-chaser, decided to return to the sea for one final solo session around 2 p.m.

It would be the last time he was seen alive.

Discovery and Aftermath

The following day, Boren’s kneeboard washed ashore near Asilomar State Beach, roughly a mile from his original surf spot. It bore a telltale wound—an 18-inch-wide, crescent-shaped bite mark, unmistakable to experts familiar with shark attack patterns. The board’s foam core was crushed and punctured, indicating the presence of a great white shark.

What followed was a grim and difficult search. Days passed without a body, and hope waned as the ocean kept its silence. Then, on December 24th—five days after the attack—Boren’s body was discovered by a beachgoer roughly 0.62 miles north of the site of his disappearance.

The condition of his remains stunned even seasoned forensic experts.

He had suffered a massive, singular bite wound that stretched from beneath his left armpit to just above his left hip. It appeared that the shark had bitten entirely through both Boren and his kneeboard in one horrifying motion. Experts believe the injuries were instantly fatal, suggesting Boren likely died without ever realizing what had happened.

A Record-Breaking Predator

The scale of the damage—and the bite radius measured on the board—pointed to something extraordinary. Marine biologists, including those with the California Department of Fish and Game, estimated the size of the shark involved at approximately 17-19 feet (5.1-5.7 meters) long.

Such a measurement places the animal well into the maximum size range for adult great whites, which typically top out between 15 and 16 feet. Verified sightings or captures of sharks close to or over 20 feet are extremely rare—and attacks involving individuals of this size are rarer still.

This attack stands out not only because of its fatality, but because of the staggering size of the shark responsible.

Some theorists even speculated that the shark may have been a pregnant female, as females tend to grow significantly larger than males in this species. Others noted that winter swells and cooler water temperatures often coincide with increased shark activity near the California coast, especially in areas known for seal populations—primary prey for large great whites.

A Haunting Legacy

Lewis Boren's death cast a long shadow over the local surf community. It wasn’t simply the fact that he had been attacked; it was the scale of the predator and the sheer finality of the encounter.

There was no drawn-out struggle, no chance to escape or be rescued. The ocean had opened for a moment, taken him, and closed again.

His story endures in part because it illustrates the raw power and size that great white sharks can attain. Boren’s attack remains one of the few cases where the shark’s dimensions could be estimated with high confidence, thanks to forensic evidence recovered from his board and remains.

And so, on a gray December afternoon, in the cold, storm-wracked waters of Monterey Bay, Lewis Boren crossed paths with a true leviathan—a giant predator that emerged from the depths and reminded the world just how small we are in the domain of the deep.