| 5 days |
| 880 men were now scattered over thousands of yards of open sea.
They had no water and no food. Many had kapok life jackets and many did not.
Life rafts were precious few and the rafts, which were designed to float
free, failed to do so. Fuel oil from the ship's ruptured tanks coated the
sea and consequently the men, making most of them violently ill. When the
sun rose on that first day, there was reason for optimism; after all, the
crew knew they were due to meet the USS Idaho the next day for gunnery
practice ... surely they'd be missed and search missions would immediately
be mounted. |
| However, such was not the case and for the next four and a half
days, the men of the Indianapolis would know terror, thirst, hunger
and despair on a massive scale. Many would give up the struggle and slip
quietly beneath the sea, never to be seen again by their shipmate. Prayer
constantly assaulted Heaven. Some cursed the navy. It was the quintessential
struggle of man against nature. |
| Shark attacks began with the coming of daylight on Monday. One
by one, sharks began to pick off the men on the outer perimeter of the clustered
groups. Agonizing screams filled the air day and night. Blood mixed with
the fuel oil. The survivors say the sharks were there by the hundreds --
always swimming just below their dangling feet. It was a terror filled ordeal
never knowing if you'd be the next victim. By the third day, lack of water
and food combined with the unrelenting terror began to take its effect on
the men. Many began to hallucinate. Some went slowly mad. Fights broke out.
Hope faded. By Wednesday evening, the third day, survivors estimate that
only 400 or so were still alive -- the dead littered the surface of the
sea. |
