How many folks have been bitten by sharks near Pensacola Beach? Here's the brief history.

The Pensacola Journal's stance on reports that sharks attack people:

"We have yet to find, anywhere, any person who can say of his own personal knowledge, that a shark will attack or eat a live man."

Yep, our writers wrote that more than a century ago, and while it isn't exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman," it is, frankly, wrong.

The claim was part of an editorial written on Jan. 15, 1915, by Pensacola Journal editorial writers during a months-long newspaper feud between the Journal, who claimed sharks don't attack people, and writers from the St. Augustine Record and the Lakeland Telegram who fostered the myth of the "man-eating shark" − the term was used often in the war of words between the paper and their respective readers. Apparently, these writers didn't know women liked the Gulf waters and beaches too.

Of course, the Pensacola Journal, now the Pensacola News Journal, believes that sharks can attack, though it happens rarely. In fact, in 1928, the Pensacola Journal acknowledged they do happen on rare occasions as stated in a story with this awkward headline: "'Man-Eating' Sharks Rarely Attack Man, Scientists Say."

But it does happen. Just, again, rarely. The latest shark attacks on the Gulf of Mexico happened in the waters off Walton County to the east, but the last attack in Gulf waters off of Pensacola Beach and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties happened more than two decades ago.

Last month, two teenagers and a woman were injured in two shark attacks less than two hours apart in Gulf waters in Walton County. The woman lost her lower left arm and suffered trauma to other areas of her body. A 15-year-old girl on vacation with her mother lost her left hand and right leg because of the attack. Both attacks happened between Miramar Beach and Panama City Beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

But the most notable attack in Escambia or Santa Rosa waters − from Fort Pickens on the western tip of Santa Rosa Island through Gulf Islands National Seashore to the east, was the horrific attack on 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast, who lost his right arm and a chunk of his right thigh when he was attacked in shallow waters on July 6, 2001, in waters at Langdon Beach near Fort Pickens. Arbogast, who was visiting the beach with family from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, also suffered some brain damage in the attack by a 6-foot bull shark, which was dragged to shore by the boy's uncle. A park ranger who arrived on the scene shot the shark, pried its mouth open, and retrieved the arm from the shark's gullet. Doctors were able to reattach the arm.

It was a shocking attack that made world-wide news and news media ran wild with graphic stories and speculation about the attack, which occurred just before sunset that Friday, two days after the city's July 4th celebration. Gulf Islands National Seashore officials speculated that the attack occurred in twilight hours when visibility is poor and sharks tend to feed.

The last fatal shark attack in Escambia or Santa Rosa county waters – and there were questions at the time if there was an attack – happened in November 1911 when night watchmen Jules Antoine fell off the British steamer Aldersgate. Hours later, crew members spotted a shark in the waters near Pensacola Bay. The Pensacola Journal gave this account of what more than 50 people onboard witnessed:

"It had gripped the body across the stomach with the arms and head on one side of the body and the lower limbs protruding from the other side. The shark remained on the surface for a moment or two, then sank beneath the surface to raise a few moments later. The position of the body in the shark's mouth had been changed, and the monster was endeavoring to swallow it feet first and had partially succeeded." Later, the Journal writer acknowledged that because Antoine was "an aged man" and might have drowned, then been consumed by the shark.

Two years earlier, in 1909, there was another reported death of someone aboard a maritime vessel. In August of 1909, a crewman aboard a fishing boat fell over. Crewman reported seeing a shark attack the man as they tried to rescue him. This reported attack happened in the morning near present-day Naval Air Station Pensacola. Besides those two deaths, there have been no deaths in Escambia or Santa Rosa counties attributed to sharks in more than 100 years.

Dave Greenwood, Escambia County Water Safety Chief, has leading lifeguards at Pensacola Beach for decades. He said that when people are, on rare occasion, bitten by a shark, it is usually just that − a bite or bites, but not sustained attacks.

He said sharks will "normally swim off" after an encounter, and don't "hunt people." He said most sharks seen at Pensacola Beach are sand sharks and they sometimes seen near shore pursuing non-human prey.

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"They don't have hands," Greenwood said, "so they feel with their teeth."

Sometimes, that does lead of tragic bites that scar bodies and lives forever. Still, Greenwood said that there are far more dangerous concerns in the mysterious Gulf of Mexico.

"People should be more concerned about the most common and obvious deaths that occur in the Gulf − drowning deaths." He said if beachgoers looked at drowning deaths the way most look at shark danger potential, "no one would go in the water."

According to the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File, the odds of drowning in the United States is 1 in 3.5 million. The odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million. The odds of being killed in a shark attack is less than 1 in 264.1 million.

Since 1882, there have been seven confirmed unprovoked shark attacks in Escambia County, and only 1 in Santa Rosa County. By comparison, Volusia County on Florida's eastern coast and known as the "Shark Bite Capital of the World" has reported 351 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File.

According to the report, the first recorded shark bite in Escambia County took place in 1882. Antoine's 1911 death is attributed to the shark in the report, and another shark attack in Escambia County waters wouldn't occur again until 1981 when a snorkeler was attacked when spearfishing while snorkeling near Fort Pickens. The report lists that attack left the 19-year-old man with a bite to his thigh. It is classified as a provoked attack.

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In July 1990, then-17-year-old Scott Holloway was bitten while surfing off of Perdido Key. A shark pulled him underwater by his ankle, then released him. He received 15 stitches but said at the time he was more "embarrassed" than anything else because of the small size of the waves he was attacked in.

In 1999, a 30-year-old nurse, Lisa Alexander, was bitten by a shark while she and others were wading in water just a few feet from shore, "playing amidst a school of bait fish," according to the Pensacola News Journal story. The 4th of July attack left gashes on her knee and ankle about a half-inch deep. That attack occurred on Langdon Beach near the location where Jessie Arbogast would be attacked just two years later.

A young girl died in 2005 after she was attacked and killed while on a "boogie board" about 100 yards offshore at Sandestin in Walton County. There have also been some minor shark incidents in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Alabama.

"I see them now and then when I'm swimming," Greenwood said. "It's never been a problem. I tell people, if you want to be 100% safe, don't go into the water. There's always a risk, but the biggest risk isn't from sharks."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Beach shark attacks rare despite two Walton shark bites