What's the story about the symbiosis of humans & whales/sharks ca. 1800's?

[esroberto]

Please forgive the intrusion, but I've tried everything and have nowhere else to turn!

I'm looking for information about a story I saw on PBS recently about a situation whose particulars I will get completely wrong, but hopefully someone will recognize what I'm trying to describe.  It was about how these whale hunters off some exotic coast in the 1800's had discovered a group of sharks that were helpful in their hunting, almost to the point of interaction like trained animals, as the hunters would leave the whale carcass to the sharks after taking what they wanted from it.  The sharks showed up and helped lead the hunters to their prey of the sharks' own volition.  At some point, a rogue captain who considered the sharks' intelligence and cognizance ridiculous nonsense chose to instead burn the whale carcass, disrupting the alliance between man and shark, causing the sharks to revolt and attack the captain's crew, after which point, no further cooperation ever came to be between the sharks and the hunters.

Again, I know I'm probably butchering virtually every detail of this account, but does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about here?  Anything helping to point me in the right research direction would be greatly appreciated!

With much gratitude,
Robert Wright