A Cape Breton lobster fisherman and his crew had the encounter of a lifetime this week when a 4.5-metre great white shark circled his boat just off Sight Point, N.S., coming close enough to briefly bite the hull.

Jimmy MacArthur, who has fished these waters since 1984, was working about three kilometres from Inverness in approximately 18 metres of water when the encounter occurred Monday morning. 

MacArthur said he heard a splash but it wasn't until he saw the dorsal fin that he knew it was a sha…