Terrifying Photo Shows Shark As It Stalked Man Rowing Across Atlantic

A terrifying photo shows a 6-foot oceanic whitetip shark that stalked a man who was rowing on his own across the Atlantic.

Jack Jarvis, a 28-year-old soldier from Hampshire in the U.K., rowed from Portugal to Florida over 111 days to raise money for brain tumor charity, Braintrust, in honor of his grandfather. He is thought to be the only person in the world to have rowed this particular route solo.

Jarvis told Newsweek that while he was out at sea he "saw it all," including sharks, marlins, dolphins, whales, and flying fish. But one shark took a particular interest in him, and his boat.

"I saw its fin and this sheer excitement came over me," Jarvis said. He immediately went inside the cabin to get his camera and bravely stuck his hand in the water to get a photo.

"It was about six feet away from the boat...it would back off and then in a burst of speed, get really close to the boat again," he said.

This continued for about 10 to 15 minutes before it "did a little flop" and disappeared into the depths completely.

Oceanic whitetip sharks are noted as one of the more aggressive sharks towards humans. According to the Florida Museum, which keeps the official shark attack file, whitetip sharks are prone to attacking humans out at sea. They have been known to attack ship and plane wreck survivors and are the suspects of several unsolved human deaths.

Jarvis said he was not afraid of the shark at all, rather he was excited at the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"How many people would say they've seen a shark in the world? Not many," he said. "I was in the boat so I knew if it got a little bit too close for comfort I could always pull my hand up. And let's remember, humans kill hundreds of sharks every year and I think sharks kill probably less than five people a year... So if anyone was going to be scared, it should have been the shark."

Oceanic whitetips are found in oceans worldwide, however they are a threatened species. They are under threat of being accidentally caught in commercial fishing nets, as well as being hunted for their fins.

They can grow up to 11 feet and are so-called because of the white color on the tips of their fins.

Jarvis said that as he watched the shark stalk his boat, the white tips "were really obvious."

It was not just the shark that Jarvis had a close encounter with.

"I saw a couple of whales as well but they would always seem really busy. So they would swim by me and go straightaway... it was a struggle to get a good picture," he said.

He said that flying fish would also frequently fly by his boat at nighttime, leaving scales everywhere.

"They would even hit and attack me directly, which was always a surprise," he said. "There were loads of birds as well. I always used to be amazed by them, I was like where the hell have they come from? I was 1,000 miles away from any land."

Jarvis completed his journey around two weeks ago when he arrived in south Florida. He has raised around $80,789 for Braintrust, surpassing his target of $65,000.