 The lone survivor of the ordeal, Brody watches as the dead shark disappears into the depths and then he paddles back to shore on his makeshift float.Peter Benchley had a long time fascination with sharks, which he frequently encountered while fishing with his father Nathaniel in Nantucket.As a result, for years, he had considered writing "a story about a shark that attacks people and what would happen if it came in and wouldn't go away."