Watson's political opponents made frequent, occasionally derisive, reference to his early ordeal. One suggested that had the shark bitten off Watson's other end, a wooden head would have served him as well as the wooden leg.

Oh! Had the monster, who for breakfast eat
That luckless limb, his noblest noddle met,
The best of workmen, nor the best of wood,
Had scarce supply'd him with a head so good.