A father and son on a fishing trip clung to each other on terror as a shark attacked their boat.

Philip Walker, 43, took a picture of the dorsal fin ripping through the water straight at them.

Seconds after the photograph was taken he and David, 13, felt a huge impact knock their boat sideways in the water.

The dark outline of the 12ft shark was clear through the water as it circled the vessel several times.

Philip and David could only watch through the early morning gloom and pray the monster did not upend their tiny boat. After five minutes gliding through the harbour, in which it bumped their boat a second time, the shark disappeared out to sea off North Shields, North Tyneside.

The early morning trip up the River Tyne was supposed to be a relaxing chance for the pair to bond while catching a few cod and mackerel.

But Philip and David, of Cowgate, Newcastle, got the fright of their lives when a much bigger fished barged into their boat as they went past North Shields Fish Quay.

Mr Walker said: "It was about 3am or 4am and I just saw it going round and round the harbour.

"It was among all the boats and just kept circling round then it came close to us and hit our boat.

"It must have been 12 or 13 feet and could have been about 250 kilos and when it hit the boat the bairn got a bit of a fright.

"David was excited about it but a bit scared as well when it started coming towards us.

"I was waiting with the camera but it just smashed into the side and the bairn was convinced it was coming to get us."

Philip, a courier, had to wait until he got his camera film developed before he could believe what he had seen and took them to a friend for confirmation.

He said: "I wondered if it might be a dolphin but the pictures show it was definitely a shark.

"Dolphins never come in that far anyway, especially not on the Tyne with all the boats that go up and down.

"But it won't put us off and we'll be back out fishing again next time the weather's right."