It was a beautiful Saturday morning in autumn when Jason Cull felt a shark latch onto his leg and begin to drag him away from the shores of Middleton Beach.

As the Advertiser looks back on the significant events during Albany’s bicentenary, this horrific attack in 2008 at the city’s most popular beach will forever be a part of history.

The 37-year-old English teacher at St Joseph’s College had been grabbed by a 4m great white shark which was mauling his leg and attempting to pull him underwater.

Ducking in and out of the water as he tried to wrestle himself free, he called out to nearby swimmers to warn them.

A well-timed punch and poke to the eye loosened the sharks grip, allowing him to make a desperate escape.

However, about halfway through the frantic 200m swim back to shore, the blood loss from his severed femoral artery and shock from the attack began to set in and Mr Cull slowed, feeling woozy.

It was not the jaws of the shark that he felt next though, but the heroic arms of mother-of-three Jo Lucas who, having seen a swimmer thrashing and screaming from where she stood on the sand preparing to go rowing, dived into the water and swam out to him.

After politely introducing herself and telling him what she was doing — a composure she later laughed off as “quite ridiculous” — she hauled him the remaining 80m back to shore.

Once back on dry land witnesses applied pressure to the horrific wounds and performed CPR while waiting for ambulances to arrive.

The father-of-two was rushed to Albany Health Campus where he underwent five hours of surgery to salvage his legs, with the damage comprising a mostly torn away calf, and severe wounding of tendons and tissues of his left leg.

The shark had also taken a large chunk out of his right kneecap, which surgeons managed to repair.

Speaking to the Advertiser in the wake of the terrifying incident — which occurred 18 years ago — Mr Cull said while the idea to hit the shark in a sensitive spot such as the gills or the eyes came from a documentary he had watched with his son, he did not believe he would have made it back alive if not for the bravery of Mrs Lucas.

“I don’t think I would have made it back by myself,” he said at the time.

“A lot of the Albany surf club members helped out. They gave me oxygen and sort of stabilised me.

“Sally Malone was one of the people swimming. She came over and helped to stop the bleeding and so I just sort of lay on the beach there until the ambulance arrived.”

Mrs Lucas was awarded two medals for her incredible bravery — a Pride of Australia medal for Bravery in 2008 and a Star of Courage in 2009.

The incident made headlines across the country, but was almost an entirely different story, as Ms Lucas wasn’t planning to be at the beach that day.

A long-time member of the Albany Surf Life Saving Club, Mrs Lucas normally came to Middleton Beach to train for the upcoming surf craft challenge on the Sunday, but had rescheduled due to it being Mother’s Day the next day and had started practice an hour later than usual.

“Being lifesavers, you are trained to go out and rescue someone, so when they said someone was in trouble and I went down and they said ‘He’s been attacked by a shark’, I just didn’t think about it,” she said on the 10th anniversary of the incident.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do as a lifesaver. It just becomes second nature.

“It’s embedded in your mind what you should do, so I just reacted to the situation and afterwards I thought ‘oh my goodness, what did I do?’.”

The shark, as well as two others, lingered around the beach for days following the attack before leaving and after a period of rest and rehabilitation, Mr Cull made a full recovery.

Mrs Lucas, who is now in her 70s and still lives in Albany, said at the time though she hopes no one ever has to face a shark, don’t count yourself out as a hero when the situation arises.

“Everyone has asked themselves, ‘Would I have done it?’,” she said.

“You don’t know until it happens. Hopefully, everyone can.”