U.S.S. Indianapolis vs. shark attacks

The largest ever recorded shark attack

Just a few weeks prior the end of World War 2, Captain Charles Butler Mc Vay III received a secret mission for the U.S.S. Indianapolis. On July 26, the U.S.S. Indianapolis left Guam for Leyte, in the Philippines. They were due to arrive on July 30, 1945 at 11:00 AM. Unfortunately, they never made it!

In fact, on July 30, 1945 at 12:14 AM, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. It sank in 12 minutes. While a crew totaling 1,196 men was on board, 896 left the ship leaving 300 trapped on it, facing a certain death.

The sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis was also as the largest recorded shark attack. This tragic even was revived in the movie: “Ocean of Fear”. The promotion of this documentary portrayed these men’s traumatic experience according to the survivors’ insights by using realistic shark attack videoclips.

On Day 1 of the crew’s ordeal, approximately 120 to 150 sharks showed up. Most of the sharks’ population was composed of blue sharks, silk sharks and Oceanic whitetip sharks. During the first night, sharks were preying on the dead.

The first call for rescue was denied as it was considered to be either sent by a Japanese submarine intending to set them up for a trap or by an exaggerating officer that wants to impress his superior officer.

Approximately 200 crew members died due to injuries that occurred during the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. The sharks were mainly feeding on extremities rather than eating the bodies as a whole. The crew had to separate themselves from the dead and crew members that suffered from bleeding injuries in order to avoid becoming victims of shark attacks. In this case, the dead ended up saving a lot of lives as they attracted the sharks’ attention on them instead of the survivors.

When some crew members found some Spam to eat, they had to suddenly get rid of it as it attracted sharks. That is when the shark attacks started to occur every 3 to 4 hours.

During the first day, some men gave up to the temptation of drinking some salt water. Unfortunately, doing such a thing sentences you to dehydration and a certain death 5 hours later.

On Day 2, the sharks became less shy, now attacking the wounded and the ones that were isolated from groups. The Navy only considered the ship to be late as such practice was a common situation.

On Day 3, shark attacks still occurred as disillusioned crew members attacked others, thirst encouraged some men to drink some saltwater, others were trying to physically stop them from doing so. Some men were having hallucinations and left to get some ice cream and fresh water on the sunken ship, never to return. The sun was hot and the water cold, having men suffer from exposure

During the 4th night, 300 men were declared dead by the doctor. None of them died of shark attacks. The Navy realized that the U.S.S. Indianapolis was overdue but still did not send a rescue team.

On Day 4, at about 4 PM, an airplane noticed them and dropped 1 raft and some survival gear before leaving them to get some help. On August 4, 1945 in the wee hours of the morning, the U.S. Navy arrived, rescuing the remaining 317 survivors. On September 2, 1945 World War II officially ended, closing a tragic chapter of humans’ history.

While injuries, dehydration and exposure cost the lives of most of the crew that escaped the sunken ship, others were victims of shark attacks. In the end, about two dozen deaths were attributed to shark attacks.

The tragic event of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis has haunted the United States’ history with the lost lives of a young crew which had an average age of 19 years old. While sharks had a definite part in this traumatic experience, they were not the main cause of this tragedy, human error was the culprit. Let’s never forget the victims! They deserve that much!

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