Frank Mundus

Who was Frank Mundus?

Frank Mundus was a sport fisherman at Montauk, New York who is said to be the inspiration for the character Quint in the movie and book Jaws. Up until his death, he chartered out his boat "Cricket II" for those seeking the thrill of big game fishing.

He started out as a shark hunter but then later became a shark conservationist.

Mundus' early techniques, which included killing whales merely for chum and harpooning sharks, earned him criticism even at the time. In the last few years of his life Mundus had campaigned for shark fishermen to catch and release their prey including a conservation book White Shark Sam Meets The Monster Man. In 2008 the Cricket spent much of the summer docked near Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, New York where conservation of the predators was preached.

Mundus died on September 10, 2008, due to complications from a heart attack he suffered on September 6, the day he returned home to Hawaii after spending the summer in Montauk. According to his obituary he had spent the last night in Montauk aboard the Cricket II which had made him famous and had his heart attack in the Hawaii airport immediately after returning.