It became Hawke's Bay's only known fatal shark attack.
The Poverty Bay Herald of the day ran the story of what happened with the headline "Shocking accident on the Napier Beach".
It was written that "Mr Bright Cooper's painful death yesterday created a painful sensation - no accident of such a shocking nature has ever been chronicled before".
Cooper, who was part of a sheep farming firm called Cooper and Abbott, went with a group of mates to the beach for a swim.
He was as comfortable in the water as he was on the land and like his mates was a member of the Napier Swimming Club.
He was a powerful swimmer so it was not out of the ordinary for him to swim further out than other bathers.
Two of his companions, messrs Sweet and Goudy, had a dip and returned to their tent, leaving their mate to enjoy the fine sea.
There were other swimmers nearby, but not as far out, among them messrs F A Triggs and A G Saxby. It was Saxby who first spotted the shark which passed him about 15m away.
He quickly swam to shore and alerted Triggs, calling: "There's a shark there,Triggs ... look out!"
He and others began throwing stones toward the shark to frighten it off but within seconds it struck at Cooper.
Sweet and Goudy immediately dashed into the surf, calling for others to help them.
Triggs was still in the sea and headed toward Cooper, as did Saxby. The shark could still be seen circling nearby.
They saw the water around their mate red with blood and when they managed to get to him found he was unconscious but still floating. He had not cried out during the attack nor was he seen to struggle or splash about.
It was reported that when Cooper was brought ashore there was still life in his body but that "the unfortunate man presented a hideous sight".
His right hand had been bitten off and the left arm from his elbow was also gone while what remained of his arm was torn.
His left shoulder had also been bitten.
"The left side over his heart revealed a terrible gash, the left loin was mostly eaten away while there were big scars on both knees. The right side was also badly attacked, a considerable portion of the flesh being horribly bitten."
His death shocked the populace.
He had been a popular man and had been due to be married in just a few days "to a lady resident in Poverty Bay".
After the jury at his inquest declared the deceased had died from shark bites they added a rider to it, which the coroner forwarded to the minister of justice.
It was to the effect that they sympathised with the friends of Cooper who had witnessed and had to deal with such a traumatic experience, and that in their opinion Sweet, Goudy, Saxby and Triggs were worthy of high commendation for their selfless and brave response.
A large crowd gathered at his graveside funeral at the Napier Cemetery off Napier Tce on Bluff Hill.
While Cooper had died in debt his friends took up a collection for a memorable tombstone which bears the words "Erected by his Napier Friends".
He was remembered by a youngster of that time, Percy Spiller, who had been on the beach when the attack happened.
Mr Spiller later became a Napier City councillor as well as a member of the Napier Swimming Club, and after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake struck, and brought Cooper's tombstone down, he raised money for its repair.
For Chris Geddis, who has long been intrigued by such facets of Napier's history and events, one aspect of the telling of the Bright Cooper tragedy also needed repairing.
He said the story of the Bright Cooper shark attack erected recently by the cemetery entrance stated "Bright Cooper 1860-1886".
"This in incorrect," Mr Geddis said, adding the tombstone clearly showed the words "Died Dec 20th 1896 Aged 26 Years" and that newspaper reports of the time confirmed that.
"Which would make his date of birth 1870-1896.
"It also states it was just five days from Christmas in 1886 which should be corrected to 1896."
Mr Geddis said he was also sceptical about a description of Cooper being a champion rower.
"I think it should read champion swimmer, as no reference other than swimming can be found in the papers of the time."
He said the sign also leaned toward there being just one person who responded heroically and named just Sweet, leaving out the other three.
Mr Geddis reckoned it was a case of "romantic heroism" to create one hero, when the facts were known and showed there were several.
