Discovery_Ocean of Fear Worst Shark Attack Ever
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00:00:00You on to Indianapolis? What happened? Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side
00:00:24chief. He was coming back. Thanks to the classic movie Jaws, the story of the Indianapolis is known
00:00:31to millions as the worst shark attack of all time. Seven hundred men went into the water.
00:00:39Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about half an hour.
00:00:48But behind the Hollywood legend lies one of the most extraordinary survival stories
00:00:54of World War II. An elemental struggle between man, the sea, and hundreds of man-eating sharks.
00:01:07Four days and five nights of drowning, thirst, and madness.
00:01:12This is the story of what really happens when 900 men are lost in an ocean of fear.
00:01:34Can anyone hear me?
00:01:39Anyone there?
00:01:42The first day we must have had 120, 150 sharks around us all day long.
00:01:55It's a horrifying experience, you know, being in the water. Don't know if they're coming to get you.
00:02:04Never give up. Never give up. That's the main thing. You gotta hang in there.
00:02:09Only a few live to tell the tale of the ordeal in the water.
00:02:16This film is based on their testimony.
00:02:30Please state your name and rank, sir. My name is Captain Charles Butler McVay III.
00:02:36The Indy was a fine ship with a great crew.
00:02:43Sped across the Pacific in record time.
00:02:48We dropped off our secret cargo that I now know were the parts for the Hiroshima bomb.
00:02:54And on July 30th, we're on our way to Leyte in the Philippines.
00:02:58Around five minutes after midnight, I was thrown by a very violent explosion.
00:03:17And a few seconds later, there was another.
00:03:28It soon became clear there was nothing I could do, so I passed the word to abandon ship.
00:03:37Do not jump without a jacket!
00:03:43Do not jump without a jacket!
00:03:58Do not jump without a jacket!
00:04:05The sound of the sinking ship carries for miles underwater.
00:04:11Hundreds of sharks hunting in the area hear the noise and swim to the scene.
00:04:28My name is Ensign Harlan Twyville.
00:04:43Ensign Harlan Twyville is fresh out of officer training.
00:04:47Aged just 23, he leads hundreds of men over the side.
00:04:58I'll never forget when I joined the Indianapolis, the captain turned to me and he says,
00:05:05Twyville, you're a Naval Academy graduate. We expect a lot from you.
00:05:12Suddenly, I was in a position of great responsibility.
00:05:21To escape from the suction created by the sinking ship,
00:05:26Ensign Twyville leads his group into the unknown.
00:05:34My name is Woody James, coxswain on the Indianapolis.
00:05:39The guys were screaming, crying. I tried to help them, but they said, don't touch me, don't touch me, burn an oil on them.
00:06:09There was a guy screaming for a life jacket, so I pulled mine off and gave it to him and told him to jump.
00:06:24And he wouldn't jump, so I threw him overboard.
00:06:34And then Jim Newhall and I held hands and went over.
00:06:39I made it up from below decks, and after encouraging some young boots who were too frozen to the spot to jump, me and my buddy, Woody James, we jumped for it.
00:06:56Of the 1186 crew on board, around 300 go down with the ship. About 900 make it into the water, including Captain Charles McVeigh.
00:07:26I must admit to having the thought that it'd be easier if I went down. That way I won't have to face what I know is coming after this.
00:07:45But something stronger within me spurred me to at least attempt to save myself.
00:08:02Can anyone hear me? Anyone there?
00:08:15McVeigh's ship sinks in just 12 minutes. As it plummets, some are sucked down with it into the cold depths.
00:08:39Private Giles McCoy, Marine, St. Louis, Missouri.
00:08:46Something pulled me under.
00:08:59My ears felt like they were going to explode and my eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out of my head.
00:09:06I just thought, man, this is it. I'm going to die.
00:09:13But then a miracle happened.
00:09:27An air bubble from the ship hit me and it sent me straight back up to the surface where I started sucking air as hard as I can.
00:09:36I could still feel the Indianapolis exploding in the water. I could feel a concussion in my groin.
00:09:59But I made it there.
00:10:14They grabbed me from the top of my head and started pulling me up.
00:10:24And then I vomited for an hour or so.
00:10:29I got a lot of that oil and a lot of that salt water out of me.
00:10:36I didn't think I was going to make it.
00:10:40I didn't really have time to think what might be in the water below.
00:10:46The men are adrift hundreds of miles from land in the middle of the Philippine Sea.
00:10:52Four main species of large shark live in the open ocean.
00:11:00Blues and silkies are common and known to range hundreds of miles in search of food.
00:11:07Makos are the fastest shark in the sea.
00:11:11They can swim at over 30 miles an hour and jump up to 20 feet in the air.
00:11:18Also in the area are some of the most aggressive sharks in the world, oceanic white tips.
00:11:26All four species can grow to over 10 feet long and are easily capable of killing humans.
00:11:36The ordeal for the men thrown into this dark alien world is just beginning.
00:11:43The Indianapolis tragedy will become the largest recorded encounter between humans and sharks.
00:11:56It's been more than 60 years since the Indianapolis was sunk.
00:12:01But the story continues to fascinate America's leading shark attack expert, George Burgess.
00:12:07To discover what really happened, he's meeting some of the few remaining survivors.
00:12:14Welcome to Sarasota.
00:12:15George Burgess, University of Florida.
00:12:17How are you?
00:12:18Very nice to meet you, I'm doing well.
00:12:20That was the biggest decision I ever made in my life, was to give those kids the order to follow me off that ship.
00:12:28And in 22 years of my life, that's the biggest decision I've ever made.
00:12:3622 years of being a corporate executive, none of those decisions even compared with it.
00:12:45That's a four-leaf clover that my mother gave me.
00:12:48She said, this will see you through the war.
00:12:51And was that in your pocket when you went overboard?
00:12:54That was in my pocket.
00:12:56And here's a picture of my wife.
00:12:59Wow.
00:13:01Somebody once asked me, were there a lot of them?
00:13:05Two sharks were a lot when you're in the water.
00:13:17It is one hour after the sinking of the Indianapolis.
00:13:23The sea is littered with dead, struggling and injured sailors.
00:13:29The noise of the exploding ship has died down.
00:13:34Now, the sharks home in on the men themselves.
00:13:42The smell of human blood and urine and vomit is carried down current, bringing in sharks from miles around.
00:13:59Put the wounded on the raft. Forget about them. They're dead already.
00:14:06In Ensign Harlan Twible's group, many have no life jackets and they are struggling to board overcrowded rafts.
00:14:16This wasn't any tea party.
00:14:19You probably heard guys shouting, you son of a bitch, a hundred times an hour.
00:14:23Get out of the raft now.
00:14:26Get him out.
00:14:29I tell you, I never had a thought in my mind that there were sharks out there.
00:14:36We're gonna need a bigger raft.
00:14:39As they struggle in the water, the men have no idea the sharks can sense every move they make from hundreds of yards away.
00:14:50Receptors along their bodies pick up changes in pressure and movement.
00:14:55This extra sense is called the lateral line.
00:15:01The more these men struggled, the more they swam erratically, the more they drowned,
00:15:07the more attractive it was to the sharks and the closer the sharks came in.
00:15:14Many men are burned and wounded. Some lost limbs in the torpedo attack.
00:15:20Without urgent medical attention, they don't stand a chance.
00:15:24Dr. Louis Haynes is the chief medical officer.
00:15:32It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Haynes.
00:15:37Haynes only just escaped the burning ship.
00:15:41Among the floating dead and wounded, there is very little he can do.
00:15:46Doc.
00:15:48Doctor.
00:15:50At that time I could have hidden.
00:15:53We all looked the same. Black oil all over.
00:15:59Doc, is there a doctor there?
00:16:02But I made myself known.
00:16:05Yep.
00:16:07I'm your doctor.
00:16:12From that point on, I became a coroner.
00:16:18Where are you?
00:16:20All I did was declare people dead.
00:16:23People's dilated.
00:16:26If his pupil was dilated, I'd put my finger in his eye.
00:16:30If he didn't blink, then he was dead and we let the body go.
00:16:38I hoped they were all dead.
00:16:45Throughout the night, Dr. Haynes collects the dead men's dog tags.
00:16:53And more and more sharks gather.
00:16:57Woody James has lost his buddy, Jim Newhall.
00:17:06I hated being all alone in that big ocean.
00:17:09Anybody there?
00:17:11With no life jacket.
00:17:15Don't hear a soul anyplace.
00:17:17Hey!
00:17:19Woody, like many other sailors in the water, has lost the protection of shoes and pants.
00:17:25I got tangled up in a lifeline alongside the ship.
00:17:42That's where I left my pants.
00:17:45To sharks, pale limbs flailing in the dark water look like struggling fish.
00:17:53Woody's bare feet and legs could be mistaken for the shark's normal food.
00:18:01The men on Giles McCoy's raft catch their breath and wait quietly for rescue.
00:18:07Then, they are suddenly aware.
00:18:11They are not alone in the ocean.
00:18:15Come on.
00:18:24Sharks are starting to explore these foreign objects by bumping them.
00:18:31Get him off!
00:18:32Get him!
00:18:45Cox and Kozel Smith, Yuvala, Oklahoma.
00:18:51Grab on to my neck!
00:18:53I'd say I was a strong swimmer.
00:18:55Grab on to my shoulders!
00:18:57But I was trying to hold up this guy who was not.
00:18:59Grab on to my neck, I'll drown you!
00:19:03Neither of us had a life jacket.
00:19:06Got him!
00:19:08Joseph Dronet, from New Iberia, Louisiana.
00:19:11I thought I was going down with the ship.
00:19:14Cox and Smitty suggested that if we both went together, we could probably make it.
00:19:19So I held on to his shoulders, and he swam with his arms, and I kicked with my feet.
00:19:28Then, I saw my dead man.
00:19:35I guess the dead don't need life jackets.
00:19:44Then I see something moving in the moonlight.
00:19:48I think it could be another guy who can't swim thrashing around.
00:19:56But then, I see his body being worked over.
00:20:14Predators always go after the easiest prey at first.
00:20:18And so, sharks, the first night, went after the dead.
00:20:23They would probably still be bleeding, still oozing bodily fluids and so forth.
00:20:30Kozel Smith and Joseph Dronet swim away from the feeding sharks.
00:20:37Come on! Let's get this thing unraveled!
00:20:40They find a floater net, an unwieldy life preserver made from rope and cork floats.
00:20:53Everyone hopes that the Navy will come and rescue them quickly.
00:21:01Even now, U.S. Naval intelligence is intercepting a message from the submarine that attacked the Indianapolis.
00:21:10But the U.S. codebreakers think this is a trap to lure rescue ships to sea.
00:21:19Or just another officer exaggerating to impress his superiors.
00:21:25They decide to take no action.
00:21:28The sharks have left Giles McCoy's raft, but the men remain on edge.
00:21:36Suddenly, they see a dark shape moving against the sky.
00:21:42What the hell is that?
00:21:44Is that a destroyer?
00:21:46God, you're fast!
00:21:48What the hell is that?
00:21:51Is that a destroyer?
00:21:53God, you're fast!
00:22:03What the hell are you doing?
00:22:04Getting their attention.
00:22:07I thought, well, hell, shoot.
00:22:14That was stupid.
00:22:18Might see the muzzle flash.
00:22:21Hell, that could have been the end of me.
00:22:23What the men see is the submarine that just sank them.
00:22:29They were just liable to start shooting us if they found us.
00:22:39Is that a sub?
00:22:41You see that over there?
00:22:42The men around Jim Newhall also fear the dark shape on the horizon.
00:22:48I heard some guys say there was a light and it was a sub and they were going to start strafing.
00:22:54So I figured if they did start strafing, they'd strafe where a group of people were.
00:23:00So I swam out by myself.
00:23:05I had a hard time because I did not have a K-PoC life jacket that first night.
00:23:10So I had to swim.
00:23:13Tread water or drown.
00:23:18Jim's buddy, Woody James, has seen no one since the sinking.
00:23:24Hey!
00:23:27Jim!
00:23:30I was shouting my head off when guess who answered me?
00:23:37Jim Newhall!
00:23:39Woody!
00:23:40Jim!
00:23:41Woody!
00:23:42Jim!
00:23:43I've never been so glad to hear anybody in my life.
00:23:48Being together improves Woody and Jim's chances of survival, but their situation is still dire.
00:23:56They are lost in the Philippine Sea and no one is coming to their aid.
00:24:02They picked on the weak just like any animal does.
00:24:07They go for the weak ones and I think that's part of the reason I'm here.
00:24:12I think that's part of the reason I stayed alive too, is the fact that I was still going to fight this.
00:24:18We had three. Three that I recall that were eaten by sharks. They were taken away by sharks.
00:24:30It's dawn on the first day after the sinking of the Indianapolis.
00:24:36Different groups of survivors are scattered across miles of ocean.
00:24:42Of the 900 men that made it off the ship, perhaps 200 have died from their injuries during the night.
00:24:53Now, in the daylight, sharks are circling the dead near Giles McCoy's raft.
00:25:04There were sharks everywhere.
00:25:07I mean, God, I have no idea where they came from.
00:25:26Took two guys and hit me.
00:25:37I'm not going to die.
00:25:39I'm not going to die.
00:25:41I'm not going to die.
00:25:43I'm not going to die.
00:25:45I'm not going to die.
00:25:47I'm not going to die.
00:25:49I'm not going to die.
00:25:51I'm not going to die.
00:25:53I'm not going to die.
00:25:55I'm not going to die.
00:25:57I'm not going to die.
00:25:59I'm not going to die.
00:26:01I'm not going to die.
00:26:03I'm not going to die.
00:26:04I'm not going to die.
00:26:08Certainly hundreds of sharks would have been attracted to such great carnage.
00:26:13But if you talk to survivors, some groups never saw a shark the whole time.
00:26:17Some groups may have seen one or two.
00:26:20Others saw larger numbers.
00:26:24On the first day, Harlan Twyville sees no sharks.
00:26:29His priority is staying alive and keeping up his group's morale and discipline.
00:26:35He decides to order a headcount.
00:26:38Sound off!
00:26:41I was thoroughly indoctrinated with my responsibility to the crew.
00:26:46I had to keep them from becoming a rabble.
00:26:50The men talk of rescue.
00:26:53One of them worked in the radio room.
00:26:55He is convinced the SOS was sent.
00:26:59It went out. I saw the needle move.
00:27:06Radio technician Jack Minor watched while his chief sent an improvised SOS message.
00:27:15Although the radio had been damaged in the attack, the transmission needle still moved.
00:27:29The men are optimistic.
00:27:32But as the day drags on, there is no sign of any rescue.
00:27:39Across the sea, in a different group, Captain McVeigh has yet to see a shark.
00:27:46And is one of the lucky few to find a raft.
00:27:49When it got light, I realized why I couldn't find anything on the rafts.
00:27:53They'd fallen in the water upside down.
00:27:59Designed to take up the minimum space on ship,
00:28:04the raft's lattice bottoms hang on ropes, offering little protection.
00:28:15We did manage to get two good paddles,
00:28:19one canvas bag in which we found a varied pistol and 12 varied cartridges.
00:28:26Later, we picked up an emergency ration can, which was excellent.
00:28:31It contained several cans of Spam.
00:28:34We also had the usual tins of malted milk tablets and tins of biscuits.
00:28:41No water.
00:28:43The biggest problem for all the men is the lack of fresh water.
00:28:48Without it, they will die in around four or five days.
00:28:51Captain McVeigh is unaware that there are other groups in the ocean.
00:28:56Hundreds jump ship with nothing.
00:29:03A life ring offers a glimmer of hope for one of the groups of swimmers,
00:29:08including Dr. Louis Haynes.
00:29:11The rafts and the float-o-nets and the fish,
00:29:16everything else fell off one side.
00:29:19Most of the men went to the other.
00:29:22We were the swimmers.
00:29:26We didn't have anything.
00:29:29There were a lot of men that were badly burned and injured.
00:29:35But I had nothing.
00:29:39I had nothing.
00:29:41I had nothing.
00:29:43I had nothing.
00:29:45No food, no water, nothing.
00:29:55Everyone suffers from the fierce tropical sun.
00:30:00By midday on July 30th, it is over 100 degrees.
00:30:07It was hot.
00:30:09Hot in the day and cold at night.
00:30:12And that's what we talked about mostly.
00:30:15Small here.
00:30:17It was bright.
00:30:20And it was hot.
00:30:22Woody James and Jim Newhall cover their faces in oil to prevent sunburn.
00:30:27Put it on your face.
00:30:33Some men's eyes become hypersensitive to the glaring reflected light.
00:30:38Their corneas burn, causing temporary blindness.
00:30:41The sun was like a searchlight in your eyes that you couldn't get away from.
00:30:46So I had all the men tie strips of their clothing around their eyes to keep the sun out.
00:30:53A single large shark approaches Captain McVeigh's group.
00:30:59It's an oceanic white tip, one of the most aggressive sharks in the deep ocean.
00:31:07It's a big one.
00:31:09It's a big one.
00:31:11It's a big one.
00:31:13It's a big one.
00:31:15It's a big one.
00:31:17It's a big one.
00:31:19It's a big one.
00:31:21It's a big one.
00:31:23He had this big dorsal fin and it was white, almost as white as a piece of paper.
00:31:43We couldn't get rid of him.
00:31:45The kids were scared to death of this shark because he kept swimming underneath the raft.
00:31:53The surviving crewmen have no idea how to deal with these ultimate predators.
00:31:59They are outnumbered and completely out of their depth.
00:32:03The injured ones would be thrashing around and blood would be coming out of them.
00:32:09They would grab them and take them down and then we would see part of the body pop up.
00:32:17It appeared to me that they were eating the extremities of the people rather than the whole body.
00:32:23It was a horrible situation because it was new to us.
00:32:31None of us had ever seen this before.
00:32:37The Indianapolis crew have been lost at sea for 17 hours.
00:32:42The longer they spend in the water, the more likely they are to have an encounter with sharks.
00:32:49The sharks showed up in our group the first afternoon.
00:32:54I don't know of anybody being bit then.
00:32:58But there were sharks just cruising around, picking off the dead.
00:33:11To ensure their own survival, the living must make hard decisions.
00:33:19We tried to stay away from the burned and anyone who was bleeding.
00:33:25We soon realized that this was a sure invitation for a shark attack.
00:33:29And as soon as someone died, we'd shove the body away for the sharks.
00:33:35In the hope that they'd not come back for us.
00:33:38I can't say whether or not those dead bodies were eaten by the sharks.
00:33:44I assume they were.
00:33:46If I were to guess, our dead shipmates probably saved a lot of our lives.
00:34:00On Joseph Dronet's floater net, the members of the Indianapolis crew,
00:34:05On Joseph Dronet's floater net, the men fear to do anything in case it attracts the sharks.
00:34:12Best I can remember, we had about three cans of Spam and we opened one.
00:34:23Before anyone could taste it, the sharks were upon us.
00:34:30I heard cries of pain from some who got bit.
00:34:35Maybe the sharks smelled the meat and that's what drew them to us.
00:34:39So the Spam got thrown away.
00:34:43But it didn't do any good as the sharks were upon us every three or four hours.
00:34:49As the second night approaches, nearly all the seriously injured have died.
00:34:58Marine Giles McCoy is plagued by thoughts of comrades trapped in the sinking ship.
00:35:05He's not alone.
00:35:08He's not alone.
00:35:11He's not alone.
00:35:13McCoy is plagued by thoughts of comrades trapped in the sinking ship.
00:35:18I got buddies of mine inside that thing.
00:35:23I got buddies of mine lying in that marine compartment gonna rot away.
00:35:36As the ship went down, there was an attempt to slow the sinking.
00:35:41Compartments were sealed from above in a last-ditch maneuver known as dogging the hatch.
00:35:58When they put that metal pin in the hatch from topside, you couldn't open it from below.
00:36:04It's sealed. Dogged.
00:36:08So I went up.
00:36:11And there were still men down there crying and asking for help.
00:36:18And then I heard them slam down the hatch and dog it.
00:36:29So I knew the men that were left down there.
00:36:33That's where they were gonna die.
00:36:38The cold nights bring added misery to the swimmers.
00:36:43More men die of exhaustion and hypothermia.
00:36:57We shook and chattered in the cold.
00:37:00It was tough.
00:37:03But there were many men who were still alive.
00:37:07But there were many men who were willing to help others.
00:37:13Dr. Haynes' friend, Father Thomas Conway, swims from man to man, offering prayers and giving hope.
00:37:22My good friend, Father Conway, was a tower of strength.
00:37:27Hail Mary.
00:37:29Full of grace.
00:37:31The Lord is with thee.
00:37:34Blessed art thou among women.
00:37:37Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
00:37:48We weren't so much in fear of the sharks that night.
00:37:52We kind of cuddled up. We were cold.
00:37:55The nights were very, very long.
00:37:58And what we did, we said a lot of prayers.
00:38:01First we talked.
00:38:04Talked about their families and things like that.
00:38:08Then we just stared at each other.
00:38:11And we said nothing.
00:38:16Some of the men drank salt water.
00:38:19And when you drank salt water, you had but about five hours to live.
00:38:23Then you were gonna die.
00:38:31It's the second morning after the sinking of the Indianapolis.
00:38:36Adrift in the middle of the ocean, the remaining survivors struggle to cope in this alien environment.
00:38:51Marine Giles McCoy has witnessed the sharks eating the dead.
00:38:56Now they are drawn to the wounded in his raft.
00:39:00They didn't teach me how to fight sharks.
00:39:03So I watched them.
00:39:09First you just saw the fins.
00:39:12And then they disappear.
00:39:15Then you know you got it coming.
00:39:30Shark!
00:39:36Shark!
00:39:41There's safety in numbers.
00:39:43And the survivors of the Indianapolis came to that thought process,
00:39:47not once but repetitively in each of the groups.
00:39:50They came together without any training for common survival.
00:39:54Sharks now approach Ensign Harlan Twyville's group.
00:39:59The second day they started coming in.
00:40:03We could see them coming in.
00:40:07It was a very bad time.
00:40:10Sharks always took the easiest prey.
00:40:14And the easiest prey were the ones away from the group.
00:40:29It was terrifying.
00:40:41The Navy still has no idea the Indianapolis has sunk in the middle of the Philippine Sea.
00:40:49The ship is overdue in the port of Leyte, but no one is concerned.
00:40:53During wartime, ships often arrive late and many are redirected.
00:41:02The men in the water are not missed.
00:41:07I knew we were headed for an ordeal.
00:41:10Just getting off that ship wasn't easy.
00:41:13We were damn lucky we got off.
00:41:16But I didn't think the Navy would ignore us.
00:41:19Forget us and lose us.
00:41:22I thought they'd be after us.
00:41:25That they'd be out there picking us up out of the water.
00:41:32With every passing hour in the tropical sun,
00:41:35the lack of fresh water becomes a bigger, more deadly problem.
00:41:41Thirst is a terrible ordeal to survive.
00:41:46The group was rapidly reducing in size
00:41:49because some of them couldn't keep from drinking.
00:41:52They started drinking the salt water, which eventually killed them.
00:41:58The men have been trained not to drink seawater,
00:42:02but the temptation is all around.
00:42:10The bottom line in survival was water.
00:42:13And that overwhelming desire had the ramification of them drinking seawater.
00:42:19Once you drank seawater even a little bit, that was the death set.
00:42:26I had a hard time convincing the men that they shouldn't drink.
00:42:30The real young ones, they would drink salt water and they would go fast.
00:42:34They'd get diarrhea, become more dehydrated.
00:42:39It was the last thing most of them did.
00:42:42Without fresh water, death for everyone is just a matter of time.
00:42:49Few will live to tell their tale of endurance and suffering.
00:42:57Fewer still how they were taken by a shark.
00:43:05Whenever they said there were sharks in the area,
00:43:08I always pulled my legs up and froze.
00:43:11And I was petrified, you know.
00:43:14Not only from the sharks, but a few other things.
00:43:19Oceanic sharks learn to hunt and kill from the moment they're born.
00:43:27Some are thought to live for up to 50 years.
00:43:33A 17-year-old shark in the water attacking a 17-year-old human
00:43:38would have been no competition.
00:43:40That 17-year-old shark would have had 14 or 15 years of solid experience doing its trade.
00:43:46The average age of the Indianapolis crew is 19.
00:43:51But younger boys did join up with their parents' permission.
00:43:55My dad said, son, do you know what this is I'm signing?
00:44:00I said, yeah, your permission for me to join.
00:44:04I was 17 years old.
00:44:07He said, no, I'm signing your death warrant.
00:44:16Never seen a shark in my life, never heard anything about them.
00:44:21I come from the central Illinois town and didn't know anything about sharks.
00:44:27I went into the Navy, I'd never been 50 miles away from home in my life.
00:44:36The survivors begin their second afternoon lost at sea.
00:44:4123-year-old Harlan Twyville is trying to give his group some leadership and some hope.
00:44:49I set up shark watches.
00:44:51I also told the men to kick and scream when they saw them coming.
00:44:56You say shark, you see movement, you see a shark, you kick and scream as loud as you can, okay?
00:45:02I had to reassure them any way that I could.
00:45:05If you couldn't keep them occupied, they had more of a chance to become insane and hallucinate,
00:45:11do things to others and themselves.
00:45:15Twyville's group repelled the sharks by splashing and kicking.
00:45:20But some of the men know that such behavior can have the opposite effect.
00:45:25When I was first with a group, I was the only one in the group.
00:45:29When I was first with a group and they started screaming and hollering and beating the water about sharks,
00:45:34I thought that was kind of silly because I had been a fisherman at home when I was young.
00:45:42And one of the ways you attract fish is by splashing and kicking and screaming and hollering.
00:45:51Joseph Dronit has a different way of dealing with the threat of sharks.
00:45:56I remember being taught in boot training that if you're in shark-infested waters and they attack,
00:46:01you should just lie flat on your back, not move a muscle.
00:46:05I did this the whole time that they were coming at us.
00:46:09I could feel the swish of the water underneath me, but they never bit me.
00:46:14I could feel the swish of the water underneath me, but they never bit me.
00:46:26A hundred million years of evolution have given the sharks brains that are almost entirely devoted to one thing,
00:46:34sensing prey.
00:46:36They even have the ability to sense the minute electric fields produced by all living things.
00:46:44With this electromagnetic sense, sharks can fine-tune their attacks right before they bite.
00:46:54Sharks were around all the time waiting to eat the dead or anyone who drifted away from the group.
00:47:01Then...
00:47:11Without warning, a shark grabbed my left hand,
00:47:16pulled me under so fast I didn't have time to scream.
00:47:23I couldn't get my hand out of his mouth.
00:47:26They kept jerking his head, trying to tear my hand off.
00:47:30I slipped, and I felt my finger go into a soft spot all the way.
00:47:35I figured I'd stuck my finger deep in his eye, hurting him enough to release it.
00:47:52I made my way back to the group, but they weren't happy to see me.
00:48:00They thought my blood would attract more sharks.
00:48:11I was so horrified I fought my way through kicks and fists to my head and body by these people,
00:48:17trying to get into the middle of the net.
00:48:23I thought they'd kill me.
00:48:26So I made my way back to the water.
00:48:30Then...
00:48:49Captain McVeigh's group has grown used to a large oceanic white tip that continually circles their rafts.
00:48:56So far, it hasn't attacked anyone.
00:49:01In the open ocean, anything floating at the water's surface is an automatic attractant for sea life.
00:49:07And so, rafts became blockers of the sun, makers of shade,
00:49:12and therefore were quite attractive not only to sharks, but smaller fishes as well.
00:49:18We were trying to get some fish to use as bait.
00:49:21We had a couple of the very excellent airtight fishing kits.
00:49:25But every time we caught a little one to use as bait,
00:49:30the shark would get it before we could get any other fish.
00:49:37Across the ocean in Ensign Twible's group, his men are now exhausted and disillusioned.
00:49:48As their meager supplies dwindle, some hoard rations.
00:49:54Can you share that food around?
00:49:56Can you hear me?
00:50:09Some guys found the situation hard, and found it hard to share.
00:50:15And I shouted at them to give it all back, but they ignored me.
00:50:19Taylor, grab that tin behind you and give it to me.
00:50:22Come on, do it!
00:50:25So I took the food and the water, first from one raft, then from another.
00:50:30They didn't like me for it, but it was the right thing to do.
00:50:37Dr. Haynes' group has no food to fight over.
00:50:41But thirst, exposure, and fear take their toll.
00:50:46First of all, you hate your surroundings.
00:50:50Everything about it.
00:50:52Then when you can't flee it, you're stuck with it.
00:50:58And you get so you tolerate it.
00:51:05Rescue was out of our minds.
00:51:09This was our way of life.
00:51:12This...
00:51:14This was how it was going to be forever.
00:51:20The men around Haynes are near breaking point.
00:51:28Many will not see another morning.
00:51:32We weren't ourselves, you know what I'm saying?
00:51:35We were half out of our heads.
00:51:37I couldn't tell you if I was there ten days or one day.
00:51:53It was kind of bad at night when something would bump against your leg, like that.
00:51:59And you wondered what the hell it was.
00:52:02Could have been the guy next to you kicking, or...
00:52:04Was that you?
00:52:06Sorry?
00:52:08Could have been, um...
00:52:09Was that you?
00:52:10A fish.
00:52:21The sharks had been bad late in the afternoon, but they fed at night, too.
00:52:26Everything was fine.
00:52:29And then you'd hear somebody scream.
00:52:32And you knew a shark had got him.
00:52:35Sharks can see well in low light, and can attack at any time.
00:52:43It made you scared to death to go to sleep, because you couldn't see the sharks.
00:52:48It's dark out there in the ocean. It's dark.
00:52:51You can't see anything.
00:52:53And I thought, that's it.
00:52:56You can't see anything.
00:52:58And I thought, God, if they come in here and hit us at night, boy, we're in trouble.
00:53:07Kozel Smith has been injured by a shark bite, and rejected by his group.
00:53:12He can stand being alone in the water no longer.
00:53:21After dark, I slowly worked my way back to the group.
00:53:26A friend helped me bandage my hand with a shirt tail.
00:53:34My left hand was useless.
00:53:36All is calm in Captain McVeigh's corner of the ocean.
00:53:40But his mind is troubled.
00:53:45He's lost his mind.
00:53:49He's lost his mind.
00:53:51He's lost his mind.
00:53:55He's lost his mind.
00:53:58He's lost his mind.
00:54:00He's lost his mind.
00:54:03I had a great many hours to think about the disaster, and the people I'd lost.
00:54:09I hated the thought of having to see their wives.
00:54:14A great many of whom I knew quite well.
00:54:20I knew there was nothing I could say to them.
00:54:33On Giles McCoy's raft, some lose all hope, as the idea of rescue becomes ever more remote.
00:54:52Maybe I...
00:54:55Maybe I...
00:54:58Maybe I...
00:55:01Maybe I...
00:55:03Should have worked a little harder.
00:55:16You know, I thought I did everything I could, but...
00:55:20But maybe I should have done more.
00:55:31I must have drifted off, because...
00:55:34Next thing I remember, looking over and...
00:55:37And suddenly seeing this...
00:55:39Empty life jacket.
00:55:50And you'd look in the water down below.
00:55:54And there the guy was, floating down in the water.
00:56:01Holy Mary, Mother of God.
00:56:03Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
00:56:07Dr. Haynes gained strength from his good friend, Father Conway.
00:56:12But as their ordeal continues, more and more exhausted men drink the deadly poison.
00:56:19Dr. Haynes, who was a young man at the time of his death,
00:56:24But as their ordeal continues, more and more exhausted men drink the deadly salt water.
00:56:32Some of the guys drank the salt water, which you would tell them not to do.
00:56:37They'd hallucinate, and they'd foam in their mouth, and they'd get real strong.
00:56:44They wanna, you know, they could take you down.
00:56:54The deranged men kill some of their own buddies, and try to stop them from drinking.
00:57:03I was in the group with the doctor and the priest.
00:57:07I got scared, and I figured I'd be better off alone.
00:57:14When they got to drinking the salt water, they attacked each other, and I...
00:57:19I wanted to stay alive as long as I could.
00:57:23Do you think your choice to be by yourself helped you or hurt you in regards to sharks?
00:57:31It probably didn't do me any good, but...
00:57:37It's the lesser of two evils, I thought.
00:57:39There's a Jap in the water!
00:57:41Some guy in the middle of the group yelled, there's a Jap here, he's trying to kill me.
00:57:45And everybody just went crazy.
00:57:47They're trying to kill me!
00:57:50They're trying to kill me!
00:57:56Two guys grabbed me and shoved me under the water.
00:58:01They didn't know what they were doing.
00:58:06As madness takes control, it becomes every man for himself.
00:58:13When daylight comes, there will be dozens more bodies for the sharks.
00:58:20I saw ships, I saw an island, I saw a lot of things that weren't there.
00:58:28Now, were there sharks were there? I'm sure they were.
00:58:34Shark attack investigator George Burgess crisscrosses America, meeting Indianapolis survivors.
00:58:50It's becoming clear that as time went on, sharks were not as immediate a problem as salt water,
00:58:57and the effects that it had on the men who drank it.
00:59:02You didn't want to be near them.
00:59:04They were belligerent.
00:59:06And it didn't take but two or three hours after they drank salt water
00:59:10that their mouth would swell and close up, and they just died.
00:59:20And the guys started drinking salt water and going berserk.
00:59:25It will drive you crazy.
00:59:29They're hallucinating, telling you big stories about the Indianapolis.
00:59:34Right here under the water, just a little ways down.
00:59:37The water fountain still worked.
00:59:39Come on, we'll go down.
00:59:41Have a drink. Get us an ice cream.
00:59:44And you'd try to talk them out of it.
00:59:47And you'd try to talk them out of it and couldn't do it.
01:00:03And down they'd go.
01:00:05Never see them again.
01:00:08Mostly, the guys that were attacked by sharks were the ones that went down and drank that salt water.
01:00:14And when you'd stop, and they would grab you, and they had so much strength,
01:00:18we'd just let them go, and they'd swim out.
01:00:21And the sharks would get those guys, you know.
01:00:32This one guy, just floating away from me, probably,
01:00:36no more than 20 feet away from our group.
01:00:39And I could see these damn sharks coming after him.
01:00:42And I said, God, come on in here. Come in here.
01:00:45And I was getting ready to go after him.
01:00:48And then, hell, I knew the sharks would get me before I got to him.
01:00:52And then the sharks hit him and took him away, and he was gone.
01:01:06Dozens of men share the same hallucination.
01:01:11Everyone got in a long line.
01:01:14I said, what are you doing?
01:01:16And someone answered, Doctor, there's an island just up ahead of here.
01:01:26They all saw the island.
01:01:36Even I fought hallucinations off and on,
01:01:39but something always brought me back.
01:01:51The men who leave the safety of the group will not survive.
01:01:57There is no island.
01:02:06How may I?
01:02:08All grace.
01:02:14There were men on my raft who were not deeply religious,
01:02:18but they wanted to hear about God in the water.
01:02:23Many of them found God,
01:02:25but they didn't know who he was.
01:02:28They didn't know who he was.
01:02:30They didn't know who he was.
01:02:32Many of them found God by the time they came out.
01:02:37My prayers made the idea of dying more bearable.
01:02:54I thought about my family, my wonderful mother.
01:03:00I had two brothers, one who died at birth and the other who died at age seven.
01:03:05I didn't want my mother to lose another son.
01:03:20The day wore on, and the sharks were still around.
01:03:30And a guy would finally die,
01:03:34and you'd pull his life jacket off him.
01:03:40And he'd be cut in half, or a leg missing.
01:03:49And it didn't get any better.
01:03:51I found something out that was accidental,
01:03:54and I passed it on to the rest of the men,
01:03:58that if you hit those sharks in the eyeball,
01:04:01it really hurt them, and they left you alone.
01:04:04And you could see down the water maybe 50 feet,
01:04:07and they'd go down there and just thrash back and forth in pain and agony.
01:04:15It's the fourth night.
01:04:18In Dr. Haynes' group,
01:04:20even the strong are now dying from exhaustion and exposure.
01:04:28I'm not getting better.
01:04:32I'm feeling desperate.
01:04:36Father Conway's body and mind are failing.
01:04:44I took Father Conway in my arms.
01:04:54He was out of his mind completely.
01:04:58For two or three hours.
01:05:08Then he quieted down and...
01:05:12stopped breathing and died.
01:05:21And I was kind of glad that he died.
01:05:28And I let him go with the rest.
01:05:44He was a wonderful man.
01:05:52And I loved him.
01:05:58In the beginning, I took off their dog tags,
01:06:03said the Lord's Prayer,
01:06:07and let them go.
01:06:13In the end, I got such an armful, I couldn't hold them any longer.
01:06:18I was so sad.
01:06:22I couldn't hold them any longer.
01:06:25300 of Dr. Haynes' group died in the water.
01:06:31Not one of the deaths he witnessed was a result of shark attack.
01:06:41The men have been in the water for 80 hours.
01:06:46The life jackets they're wearing are only designed to last 72.
01:06:52They slowly become waterlogged and pull the men down.
01:07:00As people die, life jackets that are still buoyant are redistributed.
01:07:07Despite his thirst and exhaustion, Jim Newhall still tries to support the weak.
01:07:14Some of the guys would try to give up.
01:07:18And I told them if they gave up, I'd tell their wives, their kids.
01:07:24I tried all the psychology I could.
01:07:29Never give up. Never give up.
01:07:33That's the main thing. You gotta hang in there.
01:07:37And a lot of the fellas, when they gave up, they just let it all out. They're gone.
01:07:42It was easy to die. It was a lot harder to stay alive.
01:07:47And so you had to fight to stay alive.
01:07:54While some groups never see any sharks, they never leave McCoy's raft alone.
01:08:01Determined to defend the wounded, he decides to fight back.
01:08:07And they come up from underneath your feet, so you've got a chance of kicking him.
01:08:20He's got a chance.
01:08:23He's got a chance.
01:08:26He's got a chance.
01:08:29I'm kicking him as hard as I could.
01:08:33I hit him too, with my fist.
01:08:51500 miles away, in the port of Lady, everyone is preoccupied with business.
01:08:57Everyone is preoccupied with preparations for the invasion of Japan.
01:09:02Although some officers realize that the Indianapolis is overdue, no search is ordered.
01:09:13As they lie in the water, the men often see U.S. warplanes flying high overhead.
01:09:21We did see planes.
01:09:24We would use mirrors and wave bunting, and the others would wave their arms and legs in the water.
01:09:32And it just didn't seem possible to us that nobody we could see so plainly could fail to see us.
01:09:42I guess he was just too busy trying to fly his plane.
01:09:54The few remaining survivors slip in and out of consciousness.
01:09:59Soon, there will be no one left to rescue.
01:10:06At the start of the fourth day in the water, many, like Dr. Lewis Haynes,
01:10:13have not seen a single shark attack on a living human.
01:10:18I can honestly say that I never saw a shark attack a human being.
01:10:23But I did come very close to a shark.
01:10:26One time I was alone going from one group to another,
01:10:30and there was a shark swimming back and forth, looking at me.
01:10:37The experience of survivors of the Indianapolis have been made legendary through popular culture.
01:10:44Including films like Jaws.
01:10:47The impression most people have was mass shark feeding frenzy.
01:10:52Our investigation reveals that that was not the case.
01:10:57Sharks behave the way sharks are supposed to behave in their natural environment.
01:11:09He just swam back and forth.
01:11:12He just swam back and forth.
01:11:15In the end, he evidently didn't think I looked too good, so he swam off.
01:11:29After four days without food or water, Giles McCoy has given up hope of rescue.
01:11:36Sharks circle his raft, but they don't bother him as he makes his preparations to die.
01:11:50It suddenly became important for me to scrub all the oil off my body.
01:11:58To clean up and make peace with God.
01:12:06I tried to scrub it off, but I couldn't scrub it off.
01:12:13I apologized to my mother for being so damn weak.
01:12:18For not being able to hang on.
01:12:21I apologized to my mother for being so damn weak.
01:12:26For not being able to hang on.
01:12:38By noon on the fourth day, I'd just about lost all hope of getting rescued.
01:12:44It seemed no one cared for us.
01:12:47By tomorrow, we'll all be dead.
01:12:51Sometimes we wish we were dead.
01:12:54It'd be so easy then.
01:12:57No pain, no thirst, no worrying.
01:13:07Then, at about four o'clock, we saw a plane coming.
01:13:14And I thought to myself, this is the last hope.
01:13:21Breathe. Breathe through it.
01:13:26I had learned Morse code at the Naval Academy.
01:13:30I wasn't any good at it, but I knew it.
01:13:33And I flashed them a message and said, we are the USS Indianapolis crew.
01:13:51And all of a sudden, we noticed the plane was coming closer.
01:13:59And the plane tipped its wings a few times.
01:14:03And we knew he spotted us.
01:14:21And we knew he was coming.
01:14:47They dropped survival gear and a little rubber raft.
01:14:51And Jim and I tried to swim to it.
01:14:54Jim made it, and I didn't.
01:14:59There were two other guys there as well.
01:15:03Some of the boys decided the raft was theirs.
01:15:06Well, I was concerned about picking up Woody.
01:15:10They didn't want to pick up anybody.
01:15:16And he said, okay, you guys.
01:15:21Well, we're going over to get Woody.
01:15:24And you guys are going to do the paddling by hand.
01:15:28And if you don't,
01:15:31something's going to happen with this oar that you ain't going to like.
01:15:38Eventually they agreed, and we went back.
01:15:51Dr. Haynes shares an emergency water ration with his group.
01:16:01We were all very thirsty, looked just like cadavers.
01:16:07And I'd look at the first guy, and I'd say, pass it on to him.
01:16:12And they would pass it down.
01:16:14Not one guy cheated.
01:16:18And I know how thirsty they were,
01:16:21because I wanted to drink the damn water myself.
01:16:44The different groups have drifted so far apart
01:16:49that many have no idea rescue is on its way.
01:16:53And some are in danger of being left behind.
01:17:03In the very early hours of August 4th, 1945,
01:17:08the U.S. Navy finally arrives at the sea.
01:17:14The survivors have been in the sea for four days and five nights.
01:17:44The sharks continue to feed.
01:17:48No one is safe until they are out of the water.
01:17:55Still alive!
01:17:57I figured I was out of my head.
01:18:00But I was very relieved when I heard them say I was alive.
01:18:05I didn't really know what was going on.
01:18:08I didn't really know what was going on.
01:18:30This is actual film footage of the Indianapolis rescue.
01:18:38Tiny groups of survivors are separated by miles of featureless ocean.
01:18:55Some rafts are found with nobody in them.
01:19:00Giles McCoy's raft is on the edge of the search.
01:19:14McCoy and his group are the last to be found alive.
01:19:19You okay, buddy?
01:19:21I'm fine.
01:19:23I'm fine.
01:19:25I'm fine.
01:19:27I'm fine.
01:19:28I'm fine, buddy.
01:19:31I'd have been dead in two more days.
01:19:34And I knew it.
01:19:39There were 137 men in my group.
01:19:42And during five days, I saw 128 of my buddies die, leaving nine of us left.
01:19:49I think about it a lot.
01:19:52There were about 400 in my group, and they picked up 93 of us.
01:20:00Most of the officers died.
01:20:03Some of my best friends died in my arms.
01:20:10Of the 1,196 crew, only 317 survived.
01:20:22500-plus people died in the water.
01:20:25Now, those 500 people didn't all die by shark attack.
01:20:29In fact, a very, very tiny portion of them probably did.
01:20:33The bottom line is the chief source of mortality was exposure and drowning.
01:20:44The sharks inflicted most damage after the men died.
01:20:48Some of the recovered bodies were stripped to the bone.
01:20:53While not all bodies were scavenged by sharks, many of them were.
01:20:58And certainly the horror associated with the Indianapolis
01:21:03is in part built around the horror of finding these badly bitten bodies
01:21:09after the fact, as well as the actual attacks on live human beings.
01:21:14Although most of the men were not killed by the sharks,
01:21:18the incident still ranks as one of the worst examples of sharks feeding on human beings.
01:21:27Within months of the rescue, Captain McVeigh was court-martialed for endangering his ship.
01:21:34The survivors fought to clear his name, but he committed suicide in 1968.
01:21:41Thank you, sir.
01:21:43Sure. Thank you.
01:21:48In 1999, the U.S. government finally declared that he was not responsible for the sinking.
01:22:02George Burgess visits Indianapolis to pay his respects at the memorial to the crew.
01:22:09It's amazing.
01:22:11Of the almost 1,200 people that were on that vessel, just a little over 300 were survivors.
01:22:18Of those, many encountered sharks and killed them.
01:22:24It's just amazing.
01:22:26It's just amazing.
01:22:28It's just amazing.
01:22:30It's just amazing.
01:22:32It's just amazing.
01:22:34It's just amazing.
01:22:36It's just amazing.
01:22:37Many of the men that encountered sharks in one fashion or another,
01:22:41many of them that did encounter them, are scarred for life from their experience.
01:22:48Certainly their stories have been more than just about sharks.
01:22:51They've been testimonies of personal courage and fortitude, perseverance.
01:22:57The experience in the water still burns deep for the few remaining survivors,
01:23:03but they have mixed feelings about the sharks.
01:23:07I saw so many of sharks eating men that I never will like them.
01:23:13You know, I think they're horrible.
01:23:16The ship went down and we were among them.
01:23:19I was in their territory.
01:23:21They're there.
01:23:23I've done it against sharks.
01:23:27I think sharks are just like the rest of us.
01:23:30They're just a part of life.
01:23:37An average of four humans a year are killed by sharks.
01:23:44In the same period, around 40 million sharks are killed by humans.
01:24:07Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:10Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:13Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:15Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:17Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:19Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:21Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:23Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:25Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:27Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:29Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:31Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:33Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:35Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:37Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:39Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:41Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:43Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:45Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:47Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:49Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:51Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:53Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:55Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:57Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:24:59Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:25:01Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:25:03Sharks kill more than a million people a year.
01:25:05Sharks kill more than a million people a year.