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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • All hands on deck.

  • Man your battle stations.

  • The tragedy of the USS Indianapolis

  • is considered one of the greatest

  • disasters in the history of the United States Navy.

  • If you've seen Steven Spielberg's 1975 mega hit,

  • Jaws, one of the most riveting moments in the movie

  • is a speech by the character Quint,

  • recounting the slaughter of the crew of the USS Indianapolis

  • by a school of sharks.

  • I'll never put on a life jacket again.

  • If you thought some clever screenwriter just made it up

  • for the film, well, allow us to fill you

  • in on all the gory details.

  • Today we're going to take a look at the deadliest shark

  • attack in human history.

  • But before we get started, be sure to subscribe

  • to the Weird History channel.

  • And let us know what other survival stories you would

  • like to hear about.

  • OK, who's up for a swim in the most shark

  • infested waters in history?

  • Time to get your toes wet.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • On July 26, 1945 the USS Indianapolis

  • completed a mission that would change world history.

  • When it delivered the components for the first operational

  • atomic device to the island of Tinian,

  • the parts would be assembled into the notorious atomic bomb

  • known as Little Boy.

  • And just a few days later it would

  • be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima,

  • wiping out an estimated 80,000 people.

  • After completing the delivery, the Indianapolis

  • was sent to join the USS Idaho in the Philippines.

  • There they would assist in preparations for an invasion

  • of the Japanese mainland.

  • The ship set out alone for its new destination

  • at a clip of 17 knots.

  • It was smooth sailing at first, but the USS Indianapolis

  • would soon find its journey coming to a sudden and violent

  • halt. It was just after midnight on July 30, 1945

  • when a Japanese submarine launched two torpedoes

  • into the side of the Indianapolis.

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  • It was a direct hit that split the ship into two.

  • The order to abandon ship came quickly but not quickly

  • enough for some.

  • It took just 12 minutes for the giant vessel to sink,

  • and many didn't make it out.

  • In fact about 300 men were still trapped

  • inside when the ship went down.

  • They were never heard from again.

  • Another 900 or so went into the water.

  • They didn't know it yet, but their fate

  • would be arguably worse than the ones who

  • went down with the ship.

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  • The Indianapolis went down fast and the resulting chaos

  • led to numerous injuries and a lack of proper equipment

  • for those who got off.

  • Approximately 879 servicemen survived the initial sinking,

  • but many didn't have the time to get life preservers.

  • So they had to constantly fight to stay afloat.

  • The ones who did manage to get life vests

  • only had it slightly better as they

  • found themselves unable to do much but helplessly bob

  • in the water.

  • Many of the sailors were hurt, having

  • suffered gashes or broken bones when the torpedo struck.

  • In the water without even a life raft,

  • they had no way to treat their injuries.

  • As if all that wasn't bad enough, almost all of them

  • were covered in fuel that was leaking out

  • of the wreckage of the ship.

  • It was so overwhelming men were already

  • beginning to die in each other's arms floating in the ocean.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • The Indianapolis sank fast, but in those 12 minutes

  • the heroic crewmen sent out SOS signals

  • until they were absolutely unable to do so any longer.

  • Those SOS's were received by the Navy.

  • But for reasons that remain unknown to this very day,

  • they weren't taken seriously.

  • Even when the ship failed to arrive

  • on time at its destination, no one got suspicious.

  • No search parties were sent to look

  • for the ship or its survivors.

  • In fact, no action was taken at all.

  • By sunrise there was blood in the water, literally.

  • And sharks came to investigate.

  • Aware of their presence, the survivors

  • attempted to stay together in groups

  • as they bobbed in the water.

  • But regardless of how hard they tried,

  • eventually someone would break away.

  • And the currents would carry them off.

  • Once a survivor was isolated from the group,

  • the sharks would move in and quickly pounce.

  • Survivors report that everyone could hear the screams

  • before a body was pulled under.

  • And afterwards only the life vest

  • would pop back up to the surface.

  • This continued for days.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • While the shark attacks remained a constant danger to the men

  • in the water, there was one thing that gave some of them

  • a stay of execution.

  • Some of the bodies that were trapped in the Indianapolis

  • when it sank would occasionally float up towards the surface.

  • The sharks were just as happy to feed on these corpses

  • as they were a lot less trouble.

  • Unfortunately, while the floaters in the ship

  • slowed the decimation of the survivors, in the long run

  • it wouldn't be enough to save many.

  • By that point, the sharks were in a feeding frenzy.

  • And there were only so many who survived.

  • So despite the reprieve, the survivors

  • continued to endure more days of shark attacks.

  • So every time the sharks were coming

  • in we would kick and scream and do things that we thought

  • were driving the sharks away.

  • And they did drive them away.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • On the surface the survivors of the Indianapolis

  • could see dozens of fins circling them

  • at any given time.

  • Beneath the water, the sharks kept up their attacks.

  • However, they didn't always pounce immediately.

  • In fact, sometimes they took the time to psych out their prey.

  • Apparently, the sharks would occasionally

  • bump against the sailors in the water

  • but not necessarily attack them.

  • This tactic was apparently meant to lull the sailors

  • into a false sense of security because shortly

  • after the shark would attack.

  • The sharks dragged their victims down into the depths.

  • With each attack, the water grew more bloody,

  • which in turn just led to greater blood

  • lust in the sharks.

  • The sharks were certainly the most immediate problem.

  • But they were far from being the only danger the survivors had

  • to contend with.

  • As they were drifting in saltwater,

  • the men had nothing to drink.

  • And since they were out there for several days,

  • many died of thirst.

  • Any who attempted to drink the saltwater

  • soon became delirious with hallucinations.

  • The life vests were also becoming

  • increasingly waterlogged, which made

  • it much harder to stay afloat.

  • Consequently, several of the men died in the water

  • before the sharks could even get near them.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • On the third day, several of the survivors

  • found some crates floating in the water

  • and lashed them together.

  • While the crates weren't sturdy enough to use as a raft,

  • they could be used for another important purpose,

  • drying out the life preservers.

  • The men would ring the life vests out by hand,

  • throw them on top of the crate raft,

  • and then put them back on when they were dry.

  • This system allowed more of the survivors

  • to stay afloat for longer.

  • As a bonus, one of the crates contained some partially rotten

  • potatoes, which the survivors carefully

  • rationed to sustain themselves as long as possible.

  • It was 11:00 AM on the fourth day

  • when the survivors were accidentally

  • spotted by Lieutenant Wilbur C. Gwinn, who was flying

  • a bomber on a routine patrol.

  • He immediately radioed for help.

  • The USS Cecil J. Doyle, a destroyer

  • that was relatively nearby, was alerted.

  • And on his own authority, the captain

  • diverted his ship to rescue the survivors.

  • Lieutenant Adrian Marks was the pilot

  • of a seaplane assigned to assist with the rescue efforts

  • by dropping rafts and supplies.

  • After witnessing survivors being attacked by sharks,

  • Marks used his plane to pick up the lone sailors most

  • in danger of being eaten.

  • The plane eventually became so full

  • he had to tie survivors to the wings with parachute cords.

  • But in the end, Adrian Marks saved 56 men that day.

  • He landed that big goose.

  • I saw him when he landed.

  • And as he came in and hit that first whale and that plane

  • shot back up in the air--

  • I didn't know it, but it tore up one motor.

  • He ruptured the pontoon.

  • But he set that big goose down.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • When the captain of the Doyle arrived on the scene,

  • he threw caution to the wind and pointed a searchlight

  • into the sky to alert other rescue vehicles in the area.

  • As it was wartime, this move put his ship in massive jeopardy.

  • But he could tell time was of the essence.

  • Even given his resolve, by the time the rescue operations were

  • over just 317 of the original 879 survivors

  • made it back to shore alive, a disheartening

  • figure especially given that the original crew

  • had consisted of 1,196 men.

  • All of the rest had succumb to starvation, thirst, injuries,

  • or the sharks.

  • Everyone in the Navy was shocked and outraged

  • at what had been allowed to happen

  • to the crew of the Indianapolis.

  • However, because their mission had

  • been to deliver the parts of an atomic bomb,

  • no one was exactly at liberty to tell the world what

  • exactly had happened.

  • The United States government kept the incident

  • a secret for two full weeks.

  • During that time, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  • were both blasted, the former with a bomb made

  • from the parts delivered by the USS Indianapolis.

  • The US finally released the news about the Indianapolis

  • on August 15, 1945, the same day Japan announced its surrender.

  • This almost guaranteed it would be

  • buried by the news of victory.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Several months after the disaster,

  • Charles McVay, captain of the USS Indianapolis,

  • found himself being court martialed.

  • Apparently, McVay had failed to run his ship in a zigzag

  • course that would have helped throw any Japanese submarines

  • off their trail.

  • If you're wondering whether this is a case of the Navy

  • scapegoating a captain for some made up offense

  • to take the embarrassment off of itself, you're not alone.

  • Many have pointed out that McVay was the only captain who

  • was court martialed for losing a ship during the entirety

  • of World War II.

  • Even Congress eventually decided the charge was bogus

  • and cleared his name of any wrongdoing in 2000.

  • Sadly it was posthumous as McVeigh

  • had taken his own life in 1968.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • When multiple people die from shark attacks,

  • it's usually the result of a series of strikes

  • by the same animal, limiting the number of attacks

  • that are possible.

  • For example, in 1916 a shark known as the Matawan Man-eater,

  • which we did in a previous video, killed four people

  • and attacked a fifth.

  • However, those five incidents unfolded

  • over the course of 10 days.

  • Finding anything that even compares

  • with the nightmarish carnage experienced

  • by the survivors of the USS Indianapolis

  • is nigh impossible.

  • The sheer quantity of sharks and the immense length

  • of time they were given to feed made the incident

  • deadly on a scale that is unlikely to be seen ever again.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • So what do you think, is this your biggest nightmare survival

  • scenario?

  • Let us know in the comments below.

  • And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos

  • from our Weird History.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

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The Story of the Deadliest Shark Attack in US History

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    joey joey に公開 2021 年 05 月 20 日
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