Shark leaps out of water, aboard research boat

Off the coast of South Africa, a team of researchers was out studying shark populations when, apparently, a great white shark looked to a do a little studying of its own -- breaching the waves and flying aboard the researchers' boat.

On "The Early Show," Oceans Research team leader Dorien Schroder recalled the ordeal.

"It had been a bit quiet around the boat for a few minutes, and I heard a splash," she said. "And it's a splash that I recognized as usually a shark breaching out of the water. So I turned around to see it, only to see a live shark in mid-air above one of my interns."

The intern, Schroder said, stepped toward her.

Schroder said, "Later, (my intern) said, (she did that) because she thought I would know what to do, so I could grab her by her shirt and pull her onto the platform that we have on the stern of the boat right before the shark landed, actually, in the boat."

She added, "And all my other interns, as soon as the shark landed, actually joined me at the stern of the boat, and I calmed them down. And when the shark also calmed down, that's when I realized, now I just need to get this shark back into the water."

The shark, measuring around 10 feet long and weighing about 1,100 pounds, wasn't going anywhere without some help, Schroder said.

"We couldn't manage to get it out on our own, so we ended up towing the boat with the shark back into port where a crane was waiting for u,s and they lifted the shark with the crane off the boat and into the water. And she swam away quite strongly. So, yeah, we're very happy that the shark lived to tell the tale."

"Early Show" co-anchor Jeff Glor added, "The shark is OK, presumably back in the water, so it can scare the death out of someone else next time. They do say that they think this was an accident, that it wasn't an attack, but safe to say they may be slightly more careful next time. They're all OK."