 SPOILER: In the original script, Quint was killed off by drowning.  The rope from the harpoon that he fires at the shark wraps around  his foot and he is pulled under by the shark, calling for Brody to  give him the knife. (This was also the way the character was killed  off in the book and, according to an interview with  Steven Spielberg (I) (qv) about this scene, it is similar to the  way Ahab dies in "Moby Dick".) However, it was decided that Quint  should be eaten, so the script was changed to what is in the movie.