My grandfather was one of the survivors from the USS Indianapolis. He was a hospital corpsman (an HM1). He was in the forward communication tower when he saw the torpedoes strike the ship. He was knocked off the tower and he fell into the water. Pop said that he was all alone the entire time from the sinking until a big boat came to pick him up. He said it was unbearably hot in the day and chilly in the night. He said he never saw a shark, though he was constantly afraid of being eaten. In 1952, he met two of the men who rescued him. They said he was approximately 5 miles east of the main grouping of survivors. When the navy finally got him out of the water he greatly suffered from dehydration and sunburn. He temporally experienced some kind of blindness for almost a month. After the sinking he was transferred from San Diego to Great Lakes Naval Station where he was discharged for psychological reasons. Pops died in 1987 from lung cancer.
Makes sense as to why he didn’t see a shark, with everything he probably wasn’t able to notice everything around him and those men were diverting the sharks’ attention
One of my neighbors is an Indianapolis Survivor. He doesn't remember any specifics about the sharks. He said they started taking a lot of people the first night. He said the REALLY weird thing was how they would swim between and past a dozen people just to grab somebody in the middle of a group. To this day he still doesn't understand why the sharks picked one person and not another.
Omg I’ve heard this exact thing said by a survivor on one of the programs about it! Maybe your neighbour was the same gentlemen who was in the program. If so he was exceptional at telling his story. He had me bawling one moment and chuckling the next. I’m glad he’s still with us. The world needs to learn from those incredible men of ww1 and ww2. We have NO IDEA what a treasure we will be losing when they’re gone. And it breaks my heart that they have to see the damage this generation is doing. I pray they see better times before their time comes. They don’t deserve to see what’s happening today. I hope his days are full of love laughter joy and happiness. He deserves it.
@@cececox6399 what exactly is going on right now that you’re seeing that is worse than the holocaust and WW2?? Not saying times are great, but let’s have some perspective and not belittle the horrors this man had to endure.
I read a book called In Harms Way by Doug Stanton a few years ago. It's about the last several months of the USS Indianapolis. In the list of the ship's crew, I spotted my last name; he was one of the survivors and my 2nd cousin. I tracked him down and wrote to him. He sent me a copy of a book that the survivors had written called Only 317 Survived. (You keep reading that 316 survived but, trust me, it's 317.) When talking about the sharks, he said "All I could see were all those 'silver sails' all around us." When I asked what else he could remember, he said "I remember how thirsty I was. I didn't want to remember anything else I saw." In his voice, the fear and terror was still present. RIP, my cousin. You've earned it.
That book is amazing! I’m just now where the ship was fatally hit and just sank. I had to quit reading to study for a promotion at work. I plan on resuming it asap.
My father was one of the 317 men that survived. There is about 12 books written about the USS Indianapolis, If you enjoy reading try to read them all and you will learn a great deal about the worst Naval tragedy in the history with the most lost lives in a single period of time.@@heathernks8
My great uncle was killed in this tragedy. He was a twin and they were the first 2 sons of my Great Grandparents. They had 2 girls & 4 boys and all the boys were in the service during that time except my Grandfather. The oldest 3 were killed within the same 14 month timespan. When my Grandfather (the youngest) went to enlist, he wasn't allowed bc of the new ruling that had been passed; he was the only surviving son left in the family. The only possession recovered from thoae waters belonging to my Uncle Henry was his badly ripped peacoat. It's haunting to touch and read the telegram that the chaplain brought to the house when they came to tell my geat grandparents. My Grandfather still remembers that day...the car driving up, how the 2 men looked so uncomfortable in their uniforms, and how badly the young chaplain's hand shook when he handed over the death notice & paperwork. I always ask to hear that story but I cry every time. Such a tragedy.
WW2 Sailor dad WWCray was with squadron of 4 Destroyers the Lea.. the Greer.. the Upshear.. an Tarbell....WW1 ships used to Submarine Chasers to depth charge them ((Hedgehog them to Davy Jones..)) Germans sunk 300 within sight of east Coast cities clear to Miami Florida ) they sunk 700 more clear to the shores of Briton .. even my Iceland fisherman lost 1 out of 5 sailormen in their small fleets men lost in cold Atlantic Seas .. God must have heard there last Prayer 🙏. As an appeal to Heaven... Christ in you the (( Lord )) hope of glory, ..!!!))
My second cousin went down on this ship. His parents never got over his loss. We always wondered if he died initially or if he was one who died later in the water. We never knew.
One thing you didn’t mention that I’ve heard on a lot of shark documentaries, as well as accounts from multiple survivors, is that a lot of the survivors claimed that another reason the sharks were going for certain people but ignoring others was because the ones who were being ignored were actually playing dead. According to them, the Navy rule book at the time advised to kick and scream if a shark got close to you to try and scare it away, but this is absolutely the wrong action to take as the shark is most likely to interpret all the thrashing around as a sign that this is an easy meal. So what many survivors (among them a sailor named Joseph Dronet) did instead was remain as motionless as possible, and according to them, this is what saved their lives because the sharks completely ignored them.
With their ability to sense electrical fields, they probably knew the sailors playing dead were alive and figured the sailors were just displaying cool confidence they could whip the shark’s butt if needed.
It also attracts attention. The movie Jaws and other shark movies get it right that sharks will go where the people are moving most because they can use movement to detect prey.
I’m not doubting what you’re saying. In fact, it’s probably almost a certainty that you’re correct. I was just wondering if these shark species that likely showed up were so opportunistic and because of that likely would rather scavenge then hunt because it’s far easier for them. Why would they ignore the ones playing dead to go after the ones clearly alive and still able to fight back? If there’s anyone out there that can answer that, I’d love to hear an explanation.
I knew Edgar Harrell, a survivor. The reason they were sunk is that as it was on a Top Secret mission, they had NO escorts, which is the norm.. So sad. Edgar passed a couple years ago. I, as a female Navy veteran, an honored to have known him. RIP Edgar. Calm sea ahead..
I saw him on one documentary. Seemed very sharp for a 92 or so year old man. Thank-you for your service and sorry to hear he passed, but glad he lived a long and hopefully happy life after that tragedy.
the convention based on pre-nuclear era: a sub patrols an assigned area. On detecting ships coming his general direction, if daytime, sub submerges to avoid detection. Surfaces at night, races ahead to get in firing position. This may be a bit ahead and submerges again to wait for target to arrive. Merchants of this era could do 9-14kt. Subs ~18kt on surface. Warships have top speed of 27kt+, but range cited for 14-15kt, most economical speed. On important missions, a cruiser may do 25kt for extended period (SF to Pearl was traversed at 29kt - must have burned all the fuel). I seem to recall Indianapolis was doing 25Kt at sinking? This means a sub intercept is difficult unless it was going nearly directly at the sub. This is why the fast passenger liners capable of 25kt went without escort. The bad luck here was that Indy took a direct line course from Guam to Leyte, meaning Japanese were almost obligated to put subs in a line perpendicular to this path.
I recently saw a story where a ship went down and a man survived in the wreck 3 days underwater because he got to an air-tight room with an air pocket, one of his accounts is that he could hear sharks feasting on the bodies of his crewmates. Maybe you could look into this story and give us your opinion on the shark's actions here. EDIT: The man's name is Harrison Okene and the event happened in 2013
He swore he would never go back in the ocean and now he's a certified diver rescuing ppl....I wish I had his guts or balls of steel but I'm not taking my chances with heights anytime soon
@@conor7179 I remember crying seeing his reaction to the diver who found him. It was such pure disbelief mixed with knowing his chances of living just went from nearly nothing to likely. Though you could tell he felt totally rescued, but it's also important to remember there's always risks to diving so he wasn't out of the woods until he got to the surface ship. Thank goodness they had the camera running, and the director's voice of pure elation at seeing the man alive when they all expected that the hand the diver reached out to grab was that of a dead man's. A genuinely touching moment.
I’m from South Florida, and am pretty knowledgeable about both sharks and alligators. There’s a few uncanny similarities between them, despite alligators being ambush predators, and sharks being much more active hunter predators. • Both are attracted to the sound and vibration of splashes • Both are curious and opportunistic predators • Both understand that they can kill land animals by drowning them • Both target extremities first, because it’s better to get a leg or an arm than nothing at all • And most importantly, *they both frenzy.* A lot of people don’t know that about alligators and crocodiles, but they will go into mass feeding frenzies just like sharks, sometimes even attacking each other if they’re unable to get a piece of the prey. The crocodilian equivalent to the sinking of the Indianapolis was the Battle of Ramree Island (Burma), fought between the British and the Japanese in 1945. While the exact number is highly debated, somewhere between 200-500 Japanese soldiers were reported to have been killed by a frenzy of crocodiles, in what the Guinness Book of World Records later named as the most deadly animal attack event ever in terms of human casualties. The Japanese, who were defending the mangrove swamp island from the British, had previously considered the many native crocodiles in the brackish swamps their “allies”, sort of like guard dogs. But when the battle began, the crocodiles became agitated and attacked the Japanese defenders en masse. Some historians attribute this massive attack to the British ultimately winning the battle.
There was no mass attack by crocs at Ramree island. It was overhyped by the guiness book, which is not at all a reliable source. They took quotes wildly out of context, and also there weren't enough cross there to actually eat that many people.
@chuckyxii10 , yeah the crocs probably didn't kill as many soldiers as what was said. Still pretty sure Saltwater crocodiles were ONE of the factors for the loss of some of the soldiers, with dehydration and fatal battle wounds being other big factors.
I've spent a long time studying this incident and the part that really upsets me is when, close to being saved, a group of about 60 men saw the aircraft and began shouting and thrashing about to attract attention. It did attract attention - the shark's attention. An account from the pilot of said aircraft reported that as a result of the shouting the group was wiped out by sharks in under 3 minutes! Also there are many accounts of men taken when they swam away from bigger groups. Tragic.
Even crazier is that sometimes a sailor would start to go crazy and his fellow sailors would hafta push them away from the group....that's fucked up. I mean , I get it , but jfc. Talk about a mind-fuck.
@@jeremiahalguire8231 Some of those poor boys were hallucinating seeing bars and coca-cola vending machines and trying to swim towards them only to disappear. We cannot imagine it.
I worked on a dive boat out of Kona, Hawaii and we would sometimes get in the water to swim with pilot whales offshore. They were almost always followed by Oceanics and they are extremely dangerous despite UA-cam videos of people swimming with them in various places. Fewer people equals more aggression and if you turn your back you're inviting tragedy. We stopped getting in at all after a few scary incidents. Can't imagine being in the water overnight with them.
@rogerchallful you just know that no matter how people respect sharks well sharks don't respect people, too them your just potential dinner and people like Ocean Ramsey etc will run out of luck one day.. Simon Nellist adored sharks and sadly he found out the hard way 😢😢
@@KathleenFarrell-vv2kv one day I might run out of luck, and get hit by a bus…what’s your point? Yes,they are dangerous, they are animals,you are going into their territory…nobody is saying they are not dangerous.Ocean Ramsay always mentions that and just because professionals swims with them on occasion,that is the thing…they are professionals. They know the behaviour,body language, ways to avoid or counter the animals and they are prepared in the event an incident does happen.
@@KathleenFarrell-vv2kvno ones suggesting you should swim with a great white like ocean Ramsey but sharks shouldn't stop you from going in the ocean at all
@@Higo981 also they are not allone in the water with the sharks and we don't know if they have weapons or items to scare sharks away when in need. In one video where a big shark comes very close i saw some very bright lighting, could be a underwater flare or who knows what. Imo it's a bit irresponsible how they talk about sharks and it looks too easy how they avoid attacks. Sharks are not monsters, don't need Ramsey for that, but they are potential deadly predators that can rip of a limb in an instant and sometimes do eat people like with the poor guy in Egypt.
@@Higo981those comments you made about Ocean, as if she’s some sort of shark whisperer, are laughable. Watch Kristian’s, you know, a real shark scientist, in his video about her.
Watched a good documentary on the Indiannapolis. This one old guy was talking about how sometimes he has nightmares that sea water starts to fill up around his bed. And he was definitely equating the water with the Sharks beneath the surface. I felt bad for the old guy. I hope he found some peace. I forget if it was him or another guy but one of them recounted a moment when a handful of guys got attacked at once and they got yanked under so fast they didn't even have time to cry out. Imagine being a 19 yr old kid and that's your end. The Post-Jaws American in me defaults to the shark being a cruel creature, but they are just doing what they are supposed to do. It isn't personal. There's no Quint or Brody. Some boys drew the short straw in a wager with fate and the sharks were there to do what it is in their nature to do and keeps their species alive and flourishing. Besides, if they bitched every time one of us killed one of them...they'd be bitching non stop.
Really appreciate a less sensationalized account of the incident. Several years ago, Shark Week featured a dramatization of the sailors' accounts that was hours long. I could barely watch it, not because it was terribly gruesome or frightening, just stomach turning to imagine yourself in their situation
Regarding the shark species, obviously it was a different ocean but a good marker is the open water footage from Blue Water White Death in 1969. They were filming a hundred miles off Durban South Africa next to a dead whale. The overwhelming majority of sharks that turned up were oceanic whitetips. However there were also some blues and dusky sharks. Valerie Taylor wrote in her book there was a giant tiger shark circa 15/16ft that also appeared, although it wasn't filmed. No makos. These were the days before the shark finning industry really decimated sharks. So Id say the shark species involved in the Indianapolis were likely similar. 👍
Alright...I have read a bit about this. When I was younger, I believed the whole Quint thing from Jaws. As I got older, I delved a bit deeper into it, and finally read an account of a doctor ( it might have been the one mentioned here) of what happened and it was EYE OPENING. Many of the men that survived the initial sinking died of hypothermia, insanity ( having to be abandoned by their comrades) and exhaustion. I will say this: when you combine all of the factors that came together in this episode and conspired to kill these men....every single fucking one of the survivors should have gotten the MoH. And none of them did.
I first heard about this from Quint on jaws. But when I first heard about it I didn't realise that it was a real story then I read somewhere that it was
Unfortunately the Medal of Honor isn't for what you've suffered, but what you've accomplished--a number of people you saved or killed, for example. If it were about what you've suffered, then the men and women of the Armed Forces who've been tortured by their own comrades would all get Medals of Honor, too. I bring that up not to trash on the troops, but because as a military s exual assault medical forensic examiner I began to see how very much the troops suffer regularly that's never going to get recognized. A lot of people sign up to die protecting their country, and then instead die in a training accident because some "tough" commander thought it was reasonable to have the lights off while driving near cliffs in order to simulate a realistic environment. That happened in my unit, too. So yeah. Utterly horrible what those sailors suffered. Maybe there should be some kind of recognition in general for suffering well. But that's not what the Medal of Honor is for--that's for like which of the survivors saved such and such number of people, for example. You know what sucks? If it was, as SharkBytes guy says, the sailors who were ripping off parts of their clothes who died first--then many of those guys were the guys who tried to save other people. That's hella evil to me, that you get punished that way for trying to do something good.
MoH recommendations have to have conspicuous Gallantry going above and beyond risking Life and Limb during combat . This situation though Gallant in helping their fellow sailors doesnt fit the criteria. There's little difference between here and people fighting in the bulge freezing to death. Both Fought the elements in a shitty situation.
I read about the survivors bodies after the rescue and the breakdown of skin in the salt water was so catastrophic. I was shocked at the damage from the water, of course the oil, fuel, and sun did nothing for their skin and many had burns from the fires during the ship sinking. If you really research the survivors you can see these men were in bad shape before the sharks arrived to investigate. Whoever developed a raft that left you standing in water didn't really think things through. Thanks for the video.
One propeller screw was still on full blast and many were jumping off the back getting chopped or smashing of the still props. So the blood in water was wild amounts
@@MichaelPhillips-jw4bj Taking into account how little blood is needed in the water for a shark to detect it, the blood from even one person who had been chopped up by a screw would attract sharks from MILES away!
Incredible video! The amount of detail and information you gave just shows how much you researched this topic and how much you thought it through. This is something that comes up a lot whenever I say 'sharks aren't monsters', the usual response being "tell that to the men of the USS Indianapolis". Of course some men were attacked and eaten by sharks and that is truly awful, but I think most people don't realise how much the elements played a role. Anyway, great video man! Glad to see you back.
Very true. Those guys were barking mad from dehydration, heatstroke, sunburn, fear of the sharks and (some of them) drinking sea water. A true hell in my book. I read somewhere recently that on the last day there was some sort of huge knife fight amongst about 50x guys! The experience truly begs belief really.
A truly amazing video! But one little thing: the sentence "I did not see a single man attacked by a shark" might mean: "while being attacked", and not necessarily: "who had not been subject to any shark attack prior to death"... right?
I don't know how you're not more popular, your videos are so interesting, at such a high quality and so interesting to watch, about an amazing topic aswell, you're honestly one of the hidden gems of youtube. Thanks for the awesome shark content :)
He's hard to watch, cadence on voice is difficult to keep up with. He seems like he is rushing. This is my first impression, never saw the guy until now.
@@crisprtalk6963 I think his cadence seems "off" due to the accent. I have trouble with understanding some of his words (did he say life rafts had CEMENT* under them? Lol, I had to rewind 3x!) The audio is also a little low for me, but otherwise, he's VERY informative.😊 Ironic that he was recommended BECAUSE of Ocean Ramsey; he should thank her for the views before scolding her😂
I have heard so much about this event and never was it brought up that the rafts attracting things other than sharks could've led them, amongst the bleeding men and other factors, to somewhat of a frenzy. So i'm glad you focused on that in this vid and brought this knew perspective about this tragic event to light. Cheers, great work!
I have heard at least one account from one of the sailors that he saw a tiger shark several times. In fact, the men had given that particular shark a nickname. I don't recall what the name was. The person telling the story said that he, for unknown reasons, got really mad at the shark and stuck his knife in its head. Whereupon it swam away and he didn't see it again.
Yes I remember hearing that. I also remember hearing the sailor got it in his head he wanted to drink sharks blood and that's why he tried to stab it. Dehydration and salt water induced psychosis I'd presume.
Great video Kristian!! I think you did a fantastic job of not over sensationalizing the sharks presence in this tragic event, while also not going overboard " letting them off the hook" no pun intended;) I particularly found your theory of the rafts interesting and had never considered that but that theory really does hold weight and shouldn't be counted out. Just a horrific tragedy all around and not good press at all for our shark friends. They are just doing what animals will do in an opportunistic feeding situation.
Interesting what you say about sharks possibly being attracted to exposed (lighter) skin. The sinking of HMS Birkenhead in 1852 off S. Africa, hundreds of Brit soldiers tried to swim to shore 3 miles away & died. This one account: "Nearly all those that took to the water without their clothes on were taken by sharks; hundreds of them were all round us, and I saw men taken by them close to me, but as I was dressed (having on a flannel shirt and trousers) they preferred the others."
It makes me think of all the kids swimming lessons where they are taught to immediately remove your clothes if you fall in, so they can be inflated as a flotation device instead of being a weight to drag you down.
Season 5 of SharkBytes!!! Is this the season where it is revealed you have a long lost twin shark brother? In seriousness, great video! Nice to see you back again! I was really fascinated to hear about the attacks between life rafts and no life rafts. That is an aspect I've never heard about before and I think it is a legitimate hypothesis to further upon. I agree, as well, that the main culprit of deaths on the USS Indianapolis was drowning, dehydration, salt water consumption and other factors. I remember that story of the dozen or so men who swore they could see the Indianapolis just below them, with a running water fountain working, and they all swam down to have a drink, drowning in the process. Great video!
There is also a theory that, particularly late in the war, sharks had developed a Pavlovian sort of response to oil in the water. Downed planes and sinking ships signaled to the sharks there was an easy feed. As for the rafts attracting fish and then attracting bigger fish, I wouldn't expect this to happen for days.
I've always been interested in sharks and I love that I found your channel recently! Your ideas about the liferafts as well as just the flashing skin in the water are both really unique takes that I haven't heard before and it's so interesting to look at things from that perspective. Definitely gained a sub, thank you for your content!
Been begging for your take on this one for ages! I am definitely not disappointed! Thank you for a rational, level-headed perspective on this incident!! Well done!!!
I thought you were pretty thorough and accurate! You did make mention of ships dumping what we called, "wet garbage" in the navy--especially food waste from the galley--and that marine animals will follow ships as a food source. So, during basic training an old boatswain told us that the primary danger of going overboard wasn't drowning, or getting sucked into the prop-wash, but it was large marine predators. Makes sense...
In all of this tragedy lets not forget the additional tragedy of Captain McVay whom, after having his life shattered by the event itself, which even according to the man who sunk the ship was unavoidable, was then ripped apart in public proceedings and eventually took his own life.
I've been taught as a diver not to wear anything light in color or shiny when diving with sharks. I've experienced this personally, and it seems to be accurate.
My whole family are Royal Navy. My grandad told me a story when I was a little boy (he’s long gone now so I’m unable to ask him about it again) . During the Second World War He was picking up survivors from a sinking in the Indian Ocean (could’ve been the Indianapolis) and as one sailor was stepping across from a raft to the nets on the side of the ship a shark lunged at him at took off both his legs.
Really interesting points, especially the life rafts themselves creating a bit of a lure. I did also watch an account from survivors and it seems (according to whatever documentary I was watching) there was a lot of arguing and unrest (so likely lots of splashing) leading up to the attacks in some rafts, but that in the rafts where people were calmer, there were little to no noted attacks.
Top notch, buddy, welcome back, you've started your new series off with a bang! Really interesting theories on the oil and life rafts. As the noise of the sinking acted as a dinner bell I think there may have been a number of different species involved. Maybe blues and makos may have been less skittish once they'd been around the men for a while, I know that blue sharks have been implicated in other sea disasters. How many were killed rather than scavenged? As a complete stab in the dark I'd say around 50, some survivors recount frequent attacks and I guess the more blood in the water the more frenzied the sharks became.
Hi Kristian, have you ever looked into the Oceanic white tip attack on Bret Gilliam and his team? two sharks attacked and killed his teammate Rob with extremely unusual aggressive behavior. I'd be very interested to hear your take on it.
Great video and good to get the analysis of a real shark expert on a tragic event. I bet the survivors and the families of the dead would have been fuming at the commanders who received the distress signals but failed to act. I wonder if they were ever disciplined.
I had always been really dubious about this story thanks to how much sensationalism and shark fearmongering happened around it. Thanks to this, It feels like sometimes people just act like this IS what happens when there is a shipwreck rather than, this was a particularly tragic incident that was taken advantage of by opportunistic shark species. The water doggos were just doin' what they do, they can't be blamed for this like so many people seem to want to do. It is really nice to see a more in-depth look at it from someone who actually studies these animals. Wonderful video and I can't wait to see more for Season 5, my first season of the channel to be here for, being a recent sub. :D
"The water doggos" what the actual fuck. Go pet them, dive into the ocean and go play with these cutesie wutesie "water doggos":3. Give them a kiss and a boop on the snout for me.
All of us here are eager to learn more about this type of stuff and of course the sharks. I am asking each family (immediate-too expensive otherwise) what animal they want to be able to watch their journey for from Fahlo and have as a bracelet. Hopefully they still have your support and recommendation. Looking forward to more season 5. 😀
I wonder if the group the doctor was in may have been pulled tightly enough together that they appeared to the sharks as being a single, extremely large creature, which made them afraid to attack, similar to their reaction to a healthy, active wale.
My grandfather was the 2nd engineer on the SS East Indiana. It was a United States Merchant Marine ship that was built in 1940 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was named after the state of Indiana and was one of the 2,710 Liberty ships built during World War II. The ship was used to transport cargo during the war. They were 300 miles off the coast of Cape Town south Africa when they were torpedo and sunk within 2 minuets by a German submarine on November 3, 1942. My grandfather and his shipmates spent 13 days adrift and my grandfather was killed and eaten by sharks. One of the survives Stanley Maclean wrote the book, 13 Days Adrift. RIP Grandpop.
Love your concise coverage of what your buddy Hal of Sharks Happen covered. Nugget of Knowledge: Quint (Robert Shaw) speech was ad-libbed by him because he didn't like what they wanted him to say!
I never considered that the smaller fish would have collected under the rafts but it makes perfect sense. I believe the most likely shark was the white tip. They are pretty brave when it comes to food. I always thought it would have been the noise and blood that would have brought the sharks but your explanation seems to be extremely accurate from a logical prospective. Great video.
Im so glad that Robert Marc Lehmann pointed your videos out, because of him I now can listen to all your interesting content! Sharks are the ocean, no sharks means no healthy ocean.... We must protect and for this we need man like you and Robert, who can stirr something up inside of us all. Please keep going, you are brilliant ❤
Very interesting theory about the rafts attracting small fish. Always thought it was strange that large groups never had shark trouble. You’d imagine they’d have been plenty bodies for the sharks to feed off
Sharks r strategic hunters and LOVE to get "stragglers" and they r often "the weaker members " of a group and therfor easier pray. Sharks live to live, food is above anything and everything.
@@jes6427 You are 100% correct, its well documented that spotter planes often report hundreds of sharks around the survivors who are tethered in a group, in many cases only once they break free from the group to reach the rescue boat are they attacked.
Welcome back! Great to have shark bytes videos back in my recommended videos :) I hope you had a good time and am looking forward to lots of new and interesting videos.
Thank you for this video!! I found your channel a little while ago and have been really interested to learn that sharks aren't the 'Jaws monster' but actually are amazing creatures - but being a history buff I thought about the Indianapolis...... awesome to see a scientist's explanation about it!!!
A really interesting analysis, especially the bit about the rafts. I'd never heard that before! Discovered your channel only a few days ago and have enjoyed your content, cheers! I used to be obsessed with sharks as a youngster and whilst that obsession didn't quite develop, I still find them fascinating and enjoy learning about them. Many thanks!
Because i have become obsessed with kayaking and the ocean, im am thoroughly invested in understanding sharks to pretext myself and my family and still have amazing adventures
@@SHARKBYTES yes I did. I love sharks so really love your content. I just watched your review of The Shallows. In regards to the dead whale I was thinking perhaps in real life you'd still run the risk of getting bit by a shark due to territoriality. Would that be a possibility?
@@davidjbiscoe957 a definite possibility from a territoriality perspective, defending a prey item. Although we do often see carcasses being shared not only within individual shark species, but between different shark species as well!
really well done sir...so much history surrounding the events of the Indianapolis...I was told the WW2 museum in New Orleans would be showing more info on this topic...because when I was there a couple years ago there wasn't any that I saw...so I asked...and was told that would be added....
I was a flight deck aircraft director from 1987 to 1991. While underway, we would dump garbage overboard at 1700 hours every day. It did not matter where we were. Religiously within 2 minutes, sharks would appear and swim thru the garbage. It was well known that a man overboard was probably a death sentence.
Thanks for doing this video!! Just last week I watched USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. While I realize the focus of the story is their mission and the tragic loss of life, I could not stop from yelling at the screen each time a shark attack was shown. A majority of the time it was some stock footage of, wait for it, Great Whites. I guess a shark is a shark is a shark…. Very disappointing for a big budget Hollywood movie.
I have the 1991 movie Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis it's an interesting watch. While not my favorite movie by a long shot, it is suppose to be a pretty truthful telling of the incident, and worth watching for that alone. Lots of familiar actors as well. I haven't seen the Nicolas Cage movie but from what I've read I don't want to.
Great vid Kris, always going to be very difficult to ascertain what actually 'went down', apart from the Idianapolis ! For the poor souls who found their selves in that absolute nightmare situation, definitely "wrong place, wrong time" How lucky were those crew who disembarked just prior to the Japanese torpedoes hitting the Hull ?
Super interesting stuff. I was kind of hoping for an analysis on all the accounts and like a breakdown of how many accounts came from what group etc. I would have watched for 30 more minutes I bet if you did that. This is my first video of yours. I subbed while watching AVNJ videos with you in them but never actually watched any of your videos thus far. I dig the long format. Aside from the aforementioned desires for more depth, 15 minutes is about right for the format in my opinion.
I’ll keep trying to make the videos a decent length, it’s been one of my goals to try and keep them above the 10 minute mark for a while now! Hope to continue to see you on the channel :)
It's too bad that the veterans who were actually there and have written many accounts were all wrong apparently (heavy sarcasm). Anyone who says there were only 12 or so attacks needs to actually research the accounts of the different groups.
I watched Wendigoon's take on this subject and even he named it the worst shark attack in history, which was kind of upsetting to hear because it felt like people were antagonizing the shark too much. Really glad to see someone actually analyzing the sharks' behavior during the Indianapolis incident and doing them justice. Great video!
@@SHARKBYTES Thanks for responding! Just a little side note. Have you ever heard about the incident where a tagged female white shark disappeared in Australia with only the tag being washed up on the shores? I've only heard rumors and cheap explanations related to this topic. If you could, can you make your own video about this topic?
"Sharks, silent hunters of the deep", with passages by valerie and Ron taylor, is one of the best books out there. Lots of witness/survivor stories about the indianapolis tragedy.
Sharks weren't the main culprit, but I just got through a video of a survivor telling his story. He mentions living people being attacked (dead ones don't scream). It sounded like those were individuals who drifted away from groups. He did mention those who drank salt water going crazy and killing their own mates. On the clothing: some of the men had little clothing on (given the heat and when the attack happened). Those who had clothing tried to help the wounded. I understand that sharks can be attracted to shiny/sharp contrast items. I'm not sure if the using clothing as bandages actually was much of a factor, given that many guys were only partly clothed from the get go. The education given to those serving in the armed forces at the time may have also played a role. They were actually told to splash at sharks to scare them off. They were told sharks were sissies. Basically, they had a morale problem because men were afraid of shark encounters and the solution was to make up something that would make the men feel better. Obviously that didn't work out well for some people. The sinking of the Indianapolis goes to show 1) why good information needs to be gotten to those most likely to need it, 2) why we should all take the time to learn about how to mitigate dangers, and 3) why you don't skimp on safety equipment.
When I was a Yellowstone I remember some people saying they really wanted to see a Grizzly Bear. I’m happy to see a Grizzly Bear and sharks on TV only.
Isn't there a report that some of the predation was done by Humboldt squid? Sharks weren't the only predator involved, i believe, just the most recognisable ones
I lost my uncle on this ship which his name is Clifford Mann. I went to Manila ,Philippines America cemetery twice that saw his name on the wall. There is no beautiful cemetery in the world as beautiful as this one. Because he was missing he didn’t have a cross. I kind of disagree with this young man about the sharks plus he was not there. I just listen to the Marine Edgar Harrell he saw many sharks attacks. I saw videos of the rescues by ship and I didn’t see 400 men together , they was in smaller groups. I can’t take your side of story .
Absolutely fascinating! Love these videos. I've been obsessed with sharks for over 50 years and great to hear some scientific insight, adding balance to these well documented attacks👍
This story has captured my imagination and fear since Quint recounted it in Jaws. I was 7. Because if that movie I developed an unnatural fear of sharks to the point that I felt it in pools. This bit of WWII history has been mixed with legend and Hollywood. Good that we can set the record straight.
It is possible for for more than one species of shark to have been involved in the attacks or would it have deterred others by having say Oceanic White Tips present?
I think it’s entirely possible more than one species was responsible. Big tiger sharks could have definitely scared off the smaller species in my opinion.
I’m a Retired Navy Chief petty Officer of 22 years, if you fall into an ant bed, your bound to get stung. Falling into the ocean is 1000 times WORSE. it’s always been a fear of mine to be stranded at night afloat at sea. The things I’ve seen in the water would keep ANYONE out of it. Some of the things myself and others have witnessed out at sea, haunts our memories. Sharks are scary, but surprisingly NOT your only fear. I’ll just say this, we are NOT alone.
the convention based on pre-nuclear era: a sub patrols an assigned area. On detecting ships coming his general direction, if daytime, sub submerges to avoid detection. Surfaces at night, races ahead to get in firing position. This may be a bit ahead and submerges again to wait for target to arrive. Merchants of this era could do 9-14kt. Subs ~18kt on surface. Warships have top speed of 27kt+, but range cited for 14-15kt, most economical speed. On important missions, a cruiser may do 25kt for extended period (SF to Pearl was traversed at 29kt - must have burned all the fuel). I seem to recall Indianapolis was doing 25Kt at sinking? This means a sub intercept is difficult unless it was going nearly directly at the sub. This is why the fast passenger liners capable of 25kt went without escort. The bad luck here was that Indy took a direct line course from Guam to Leyte, meaning Japanese were almost obligated to put subs in a line perpendicular to this path.
Would anyone be interested in a dedicated channel devoted to Shark Sightings around UK ? It's something that has intrigued me my whole life. Ps , love this channel another great video too.
@@cjdingojames3715 thanks! Welcome to Shark Bytes, we’ve got loads of content across the channel that I hope you’ll enjoy, and new videos out every Sunday at 9pm GMT
I actually first learnt of this tragedy as a kid while watching Jaws. When Quint and Hooper were talking about it and telling Brody what happened when they were getting drunk on the boat in the evening.
Thank you for your explanation and it does make sense. I would like to thank those men and women that serve in the armed forces. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
@@SHARKBYTES I did. I have a fascination with sharks and I just love them. They are so important to the oceans. I pretty much knew that the Oceanic White Tip was responsible for most of the activity. I won't call them attacks because they didn't seek to attack anyone. When we enter their world we are subject to those consequences. From what I understand, the sharks scavenged on those already dead. Can we call it predation on those that were alive or was it exploratory? It is hard to say because each shark is different. One shark may "attack" and consume while another may explore it's options. I agree that Tigers also participated in this tragic event. Thanks again for your vlog. I really enjoy learning more about sharks.
Even if it was 12-150 men killed by sharks, that's still got to be the worst shark attack in history. Where would there ever have been more than that many shark attacks in one event?
The main culprit of deaths on the Indy was being slammed with 2 torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The second main culprit of the deaths on the Indy was top brass of the US Navy dropping the ball therefore leaving out there for so long. It was criminal what those same brass did to McVay as well, but they had to blame someone. He ultimately took his life on the front steps of his home dressed in his uniform. The ultimate culprits in his death was the top brass of the US Navy. The sharks, the salt water, the sun, the heat...they were just doing what they do. I wouldn't call them "culprits" I enjoyed watching this. Hal from "sharks happen" recommended you. Said you should have a lot more subscribers than you do. I agree.
Until a month or so ago I'd have agreed that the mako wasn't likely to be involved, but not long ago I saw a video about the attacks at the resort in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and learned that a mako was confirmed as being the culprit in at least one of the lethal attacks. This surprised me so much that I did some more research and learned that makos have been seen using a very interesting - and vicious - hunting technique where they will gain a tremendous amount of speed at distance and "immobilize" prey by hitting the tail fin and taking it clean off, and I mean BIG prey like marlins and sword fish and even the whole back-half of grown tuna. I think a grown mako going 50mph could absolutely take a leg or arm off in one go, much like the poor woman killed by a mako in the Red Sea I mentioned.
The Mako in the Red Sea attacks actually only wounded two men with one more severe than the other. Then it was killed. The fatality and more severe injuries were caused by the Oceanic White Tips.
Firstly, I am an advocate for sharks, before I go any further. They are an amazing oceanic predator that I admire very much. That’s amazing, that one group were pretty much left alone. Based on the doctor’s recollection of the events. But the raft group had issues with sharks and shark bites. Do you know what colour the raft was? I’ve watched a few documentaries where scientists were testing different patterns and colours around certain species of sharks, to see their reaction to it. Different patterns and colours definitely made a clear difference. Enough to prove that colour and pattern demonstrates that sight plays quite a large role in identifying prey. Great Whites being the top as visual predators. Obviously not one of the species involved in this particular situation. I wonder if the colour and patterns on the life rafts were perhaps attracting the sharks as well? Just a thought. I mean along with things like - blood, urine, faeces (men would have had to relieve themselves in the water). Plus the sharks sensing the distress of the injured and element/s exposed sailors. There was an incident off the QLD coast in Australia which the film “The Reef” was loosely based on. The shark species in the film was a Great White. The shark species in the true story was a Tiger shark. ( I honestly don’t know, why the film makers just didn’t tell the true/original story of what happened). Instead of basing it so loosely on the real events, it ends up telling a different story.) Anyways, a fishing trawler sank with 3 crew members aboard. Only 1 ended up surviving after miraculously making it to a large protective, oceanic reef. The other 2 crew members were taken & killed by what appeared to be the same large Tiger shark. The 1 survivor had shark bites all over him, he’d somehow managed to protect himself enough until he was rescued by helicopter. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this particular true story. If you are interested, please let me know. I’ll drop you a link. I very much enjoyed your video. 👍
The USS Indianapolis was an incredible example of leadership too. The strong leaders in life boats were able to ration resources and keep the minds in tact of the sailors in their group. There are dark written accounts of bad leadership and these life boats that became “lawless” had murder and grape minus the g. Could you imagine surviving the moment just to be killed by a fellow deranged sailor?
My grandfather was one of the survivors from the USS Indianapolis. He was a hospital corpsman (an HM1). He was in the forward communication tower when he saw the torpedoes strike the ship. He was knocked off the tower and he fell into the water. Pop said that he was all alone the entire time from the sinking until a big boat came to pick him up. He said it was unbearably hot in the day and chilly in the night. He said he never saw a shark, though he was constantly afraid of being eaten. In 1952, he met two of the men who rescued him. They said he was approximately 5 miles east of the main grouping of survivors. When the navy finally got him out of the water he greatly suffered from dehydration and sunburn. He temporally experienced some kind of blindness for almost a month. After the sinking he was transferred from San Diego to Great Lakes Naval Station where he was discharged for psychological reasons. Pops died in 1987 from lung cancer.
Makes sense as to why he didn’t see a shark, with everything he probably wasn’t able to notice everything around him and those men were diverting the sharks’ attention
Thank you for sharing his story.
Rest in peace thank you for his service
Sounds like he experienced moon blindness, it's associated with a lack of vitamin A.
May his memory be a blessing to you 🌹💖🌹
One of my neighbors is an Indianapolis Survivor. He doesn't remember any specifics about the sharks. He said they started taking a lot of people the first night. He said the REALLY weird thing was how they would swim between and past a dozen people just to grab somebody in the middle of a group. To this day he still doesn't understand why the sharks picked one person and not another.
We sure do appreciate his service.
@@Americanpatriot-zo2tk Yes we do.
He was definitely meant for more and his life here wasent done yet.
Omg I’ve heard this exact thing said by a survivor on one of the programs about it! Maybe your neighbour was the same gentlemen who was in the program. If so he was exceptional at telling his story. He had me bawling one moment and chuckling the next. I’m glad he’s still with us. The world needs to learn from those incredible men of ww1 and ww2. We have NO IDEA what a treasure we will be losing when they’re gone. And it breaks my heart that they have to see the damage this generation is doing. I pray they see better times before their time comes. They don’t deserve to see what’s happening today. I hope his days are full of love laughter joy and happiness. He deserves it.
@@cececox6399 what exactly is going on right now that you’re seeing that is worse than the holocaust and WW2?? Not saying times are great, but let’s have some perspective and not belittle the horrors this man had to endure.
I read a book called In Harms Way by Doug Stanton a few years ago. It's about the last several months of the USS Indianapolis. In the list of the ship's crew, I spotted my last name; he was one of the survivors and my 2nd cousin. I tracked him down and wrote to him. He sent me a copy of a book that the survivors had written called Only 317 Survived. (You keep reading that 316 survived but, trust me, it's 317.) When talking about the sharks, he said "All I could see were all those 'silver sails' all around us." When I asked what else he could remember, he said "I remember how thirsty I was. I didn't want to remember anything else I saw." In his voice, the fear and terror was still present. RIP, my cousin. You've earned it.
Tbf, when you Google, it says 316. I Googled the book though, so now I'm curious about the inaccuracy.
Perhaps 317 were pulled out of the water alive and one died at a later date due to causes related to the incident
That book is amazing! I’m just now where the ship was fatally hit and just sank. I had to quit reading to study for a promotion at work. I plan on resuming it asap.
That's so very sad. I'm sorry for all of those men, it was horrific....
My father was one of the 317 men that survived. There is about 12 books written about the USS Indianapolis, If you enjoy reading try to read them all and you will learn a great deal about the worst Naval tragedy in the history with the most lost lives in a single period of time.@@heathernks8
My great uncle was killed in this tragedy. He was a twin and they were the first 2 sons of my Great Grandparents. They had 2 girls & 4 boys and all the boys were in the service during that time except my Grandfather. The oldest 3 were killed within the same 14 month timespan. When my Grandfather (the youngest) went to enlist, he wasn't allowed bc of the new ruling that had been passed; he was the only surviving son left in the family. The only possession recovered from thoae waters belonging to my Uncle Henry was his badly ripped peacoat. It's haunting to touch and read the telegram that the chaplain brought to the house when they came to tell my geat grandparents. My Grandfather still remembers that day...the car driving up, how the 2 men looked so uncomfortable in their uniforms, and how badly the young chaplain's hand shook when he handed over the death notice & paperwork. I always ask to hear that story but I cry every time. Such a tragedy.
I pray peace for your family and comfort. It was a horrible thing.
WW2 Sailor dad WWCray was with squadron of 4 Destroyers the Lea.. the Greer.. the Upshear.. an Tarbell....WW1 ships used to Submarine Chasers to depth charge them ((Hedgehog them to Davy Jones..)) Germans sunk 300 within sight of east Coast cities clear to Miami Florida ) they sunk 700 more clear to the shores of Briton .. even my Iceland fisherman lost 1 out of 5 sailormen in their small fleets men lost in cold Atlantic Seas .. God must have heard there last Prayer 🙏. As an appeal to Heaven... Christ in you the (( Lord )) hope of glory, ..!!!))
your great uncle is one person think about the hundreds of thousands of people that he helped to murder with the atomic bomb🐑🐑
My second cousin went down on this ship. His parents never got over his loss. We always wondered if he died initially or if he was one who died later in the water. We never knew.
sometimes it is better not to know
God Bless your cousin and your family.
Quint's speech in Jaws must have shocked your family when you first saw it.
@@sid7088 I'm sure they knew the history
@@atheistpeace7579 I meant just hearing it become common knowledge on an iconic blockbuster movie. I certainly never heard about it until then.
One thing you didn’t mention that I’ve heard on a lot of shark documentaries, as well as accounts from multiple survivors, is that a lot of the survivors claimed that another reason the sharks were going for certain people but ignoring others was because the ones who were being ignored were actually playing dead. According to them, the Navy rule book at the time advised to kick and scream if a shark got close to you to try and scare it away, but this is absolutely the wrong action to take as the shark is most likely to interpret all the thrashing around as a sign that this is an easy meal. So what many survivors (among them a sailor named Joseph Dronet) did instead was remain as motionless as possible, and according to them, this is what saved their lives because the sharks completely ignored them.
make sense to me
With their ability to sense electrical fields, they probably knew the sailors playing dead were alive and figured the sailors were just displaying cool confidence they could whip the shark’s butt if needed.
Exactly because dead bidies were eaten first during the first days
It also attracts attention. The movie Jaws and other shark movies get it right that sharks will go where the people are moving most because they can use movement to detect prey.
I’m not doubting what you’re saying. In fact, it’s probably almost a certainty that you’re correct. I was just wondering if these shark species that likely showed up were so opportunistic and because of that likely would rather scavenge then hunt because it’s far easier for them. Why would they ignore the ones playing dead to go after the ones clearly alive and still able to fight back? If there’s anyone out there that can answer that, I’d love to hear an explanation.
I knew Edgar Harrell, a survivor. The reason they were sunk is that as it was on a Top Secret mission, they had NO escorts, which is the norm.. So sad. Edgar passed a couple years ago. I, as a female Navy veteran, an honored to have known him. RIP Edgar. Calm sea ahead..
Very sweet of you to mention him.
They already dropped off their top secret cargo. (Atom bomb).
They had just dropped off one of the nuclear weapons. The same/next day on the return voyage they were attacked.
I saw him on one documentary. Seemed very sharp for a 92 or so year old man. Thank-you for your service and sorry to hear he passed, but glad he lived a long and hopefully happy life after that tragedy.
the convention based on pre-nuclear era: a sub patrols an assigned area. On detecting ships coming his general direction, if daytime, sub submerges to avoid detection. Surfaces at night, races ahead to get in firing position. This may be a bit ahead and submerges again to wait for target to arrive.
Merchants of this era could do 9-14kt. Subs ~18kt on surface. Warships have top speed of 27kt+, but range cited for 14-15kt, most economical speed.
On important missions, a cruiser may do 25kt for extended period (SF to Pearl was traversed at 29kt - must have burned all the fuel). I seem to recall Indianapolis was doing 25Kt at sinking?
This means a sub intercept is difficult unless it was going nearly directly at the sub. This is why the fast passenger liners capable of 25kt went without escort.
The bad luck here was that Indy took a direct line course from Guam to Leyte, meaning Japanese were almost obligated to put subs in a line perpendicular to this path.
I recently saw a story where a ship went down and a man survived in the wreck 3 days underwater because he got to an air-tight room with an air pocket, one of his accounts is that he could hear sharks feasting on the bodies of his crewmates. Maybe you could look into this story and give us your opinion on the shark's actions here.
EDIT: The man's name is Harrison Okene and the event happened in 2013
I’ll be sure to check it out Earl
I heard about this too!
He swore he would never go back in the ocean and now he's a certified diver rescuing ppl....I wish I had his guts or balls of steel but I'm not taking my chances with heights anytime soon
Amazing guy, the video is crazy and the fact he's a rescuer now is amazing
@@conor7179 I remember crying seeing his reaction to the diver who found him. It was such pure disbelief mixed with knowing his chances of living just went from nearly nothing to likely. Though you could tell he felt totally rescued, but it's also important to remember there's always risks to diving so he wasn't out of the woods until he got to the surface ship. Thank goodness they had the camera running, and the director's voice of pure elation at seeing the man alive when they all expected that the hand the diver reached out to grab was that of a dead man's. A genuinely touching moment.
I’m from South Florida, and am pretty knowledgeable about both sharks and alligators. There’s a few uncanny similarities between them, despite alligators being ambush predators, and sharks being much more active hunter predators.
• Both are attracted to the sound and vibration of splashes
• Both are curious and opportunistic predators
• Both understand that they can kill land animals by drowning them
• Both target extremities first, because it’s better to get a leg or an arm than nothing at all
• And most importantly, *they both frenzy.*
A lot of people don’t know that about alligators and crocodiles, but they will go into mass feeding frenzies just like sharks, sometimes even attacking each other if they’re unable to get a piece of the prey.
The crocodilian equivalent to the sinking of the Indianapolis was the Battle of Ramree Island (Burma), fought between the British and the Japanese in 1945. While the exact number is highly debated, somewhere between 200-500 Japanese soldiers were reported to have been killed by a frenzy of crocodiles, in what the Guinness Book of World Records later named as the most deadly animal attack event ever in terms of human casualties.
The Japanese, who were defending the mangrove swamp island from the British, had previously considered the many native crocodiles in the brackish swamps their “allies”, sort of like guard dogs. But when the battle began, the crocodiles became agitated and attacked the Japanese defenders en masse. Some historians attribute this massive attack to the British ultimately winning the battle.
There was no mass attack by crocs at Ramree island. It was overhyped by the guiness book, which is not at all a reliable source. They took quotes wildly out of context, and also there weren't enough cross there to actually eat that many people.
@chuckyxii10 , yeah the crocs probably didn't kill as many soldiers as what was said. Still pretty sure Saltwater crocodiles were ONE of the factors for the loss of some of the soldiers, with dehydration and fatal battle wounds being other big factors.
Convergent Evolution is an incredible thing.
Saltwater Crocs are pretty serious trouble and get antsy real quick.
I've spent a long time studying this incident and the part that really upsets me is when, close to being saved, a group of about 60 men saw the aircraft and began shouting and thrashing about to attract attention. It did attract attention - the shark's attention. An account from the pilot of said aircraft reported that as a result of the shouting the group was wiped out by sharks in under 3 minutes! Also there are many accounts of men taken when they swam away from bigger groups. Tragic.
@patkelly8309 you nailed it right there.. thrashing about would of lured them in definitely 💯
Even crazier is that sometimes a sailor would start to go crazy and his fellow sailors would hafta push them away from the group....that's fucked up. I mean , I get it , but jfc. Talk about a mind-fuck.
@@jeremiahalguire8231 Some of those poor boys were hallucinating seeing bars and coca-cola vending machines and trying to swim towards them only to disappear. We cannot imagine it.
@patkelly8309 yeah , I was agreeing , just adding more info.
@patkelly8309 it's definitely impossible to imagine exactly what they felt
I worked on a dive boat out of Kona, Hawaii and we would sometimes get in the water to swim with pilot whales offshore. They were almost always followed by Oceanics and they are extremely dangerous despite UA-cam videos of people swimming with them in various places. Fewer people equals more aggression and if you turn your back you're inviting tragedy. We stopped getting in at all after a few scary incidents. Can't imagine being in the water overnight with them.
@rogerchallful you just know that no matter how people respect sharks well sharks don't respect people, too them your just potential dinner and people like Ocean Ramsey etc will run out of luck one day.. Simon Nellist adored sharks and sadly he found out the hard way 😢😢
@@KathleenFarrell-vv2kv one day I might run out of luck, and get hit by a bus…what’s your point?
Yes,they are dangerous, they are animals,you are going into their territory…nobody is saying they are not dangerous.Ocean Ramsay always mentions that and just because professionals swims with them on occasion,that is the thing…they are professionals. They know the behaviour,body language, ways to avoid or counter the animals and they are prepared in the event an incident does happen.
@@KathleenFarrell-vv2kvno ones suggesting you should swim with a great white like ocean Ramsey but sharks shouldn't stop you from going in the ocean at all
@@Higo981 also they are not allone in the water with the sharks and we don't know if they have weapons or items to scare sharks away when in need. In one video where a big shark comes very close i saw some very bright lighting, could be a underwater flare or who knows what. Imo it's a bit irresponsible how they talk about sharks and it looks too easy how they avoid attacks. Sharks are not monsters, don't need Ramsey for that, but they are potential deadly predators that can rip of a limb in an instant and sometimes do eat people like with the poor guy in Egypt.
@@Higo981those comments you made about Ocean, as if she’s some sort of shark whisperer, are laughable. Watch Kristian’s, you know, a real shark scientist, in his video about her.
Watched a good documentary on the Indiannapolis. This one old guy was talking about how sometimes he has nightmares that sea water starts to fill up around his bed. And he was definitely equating the water with the Sharks beneath the surface. I felt bad for the old guy. I hope he found some peace. I forget if it was him or another guy but one of them recounted a moment when a handful of guys got attacked at once and they got yanked under so fast they didn't even have time to cry out. Imagine being a 19 yr old kid and that's your end. The Post-Jaws American in me defaults to the shark being a cruel creature, but they are just doing what they are supposed to do. It isn't personal. There's no Quint or Brody. Some boys drew the short straw in a wager with fate and the sharks were there to do what it is in their nature to do and keeps their species alive and flourishing. Besides, if they bitched every time one of us killed one of them...they'd be bitching non stop.
Really appreciate a less sensationalized account of the incident. Several years ago, Shark Week featured a dramatization of the sailors' accounts that was hours long. I could barely watch it, not because it was terribly gruesome or frightening, just stomach turning to imagine yourself in their situation
Glad you enjoyed Jawsbert!
Regarding the shark species, obviously it was a different ocean but a good marker is the open water footage from Blue Water White Death in 1969. They were filming a hundred miles off Durban South Africa next to a dead whale. The overwhelming majority of sharks that turned up were oceanic whitetips. However there were also some blues and dusky sharks. Valerie Taylor wrote in her book there was a giant tiger shark circa 15/16ft that also appeared, although it wasn't filmed. No makos.
These were the days before the shark finning industry really decimated sharks.
So Id say the shark species involved in the Indianapolis were likely similar. 👍
I just googled it and about to watch it next! Thanx for the info!
Alright...I have read a bit about this. When I was younger, I believed the whole Quint thing from Jaws. As I got older, I delved a bit deeper into it, and finally read an account of a doctor ( it might have been the one mentioned here) of what happened and it was EYE OPENING. Many of the men that survived the initial sinking died of hypothermia, insanity ( having to be abandoned by their comrades) and exhaustion. I will say this: when you combine all of the factors that came together in this episode and conspired to kill these men....every single fucking one of the survivors should have gotten the MoH. And none of them did.
I first heard about this from Quint on jaws. But when I first heard about it I didn't realise that it was a real story then I read somewhere that it was
Unfortunately the Medal of Honor isn't for what you've suffered, but what you've accomplished--a number of people you saved or killed, for example. If it were about what you've suffered, then the men and women of the Armed Forces who've been tortured by their own comrades would all get Medals of Honor, too. I bring that up not to trash on the troops, but because as a military s exual assault medical forensic examiner I began to see how very much the troops suffer regularly that's never going to get recognized. A lot of people sign up to die protecting their country, and then instead die in a training accident because some "tough" commander thought it was reasonable to have the lights off while driving near cliffs in order to simulate a realistic environment. That happened in my unit, too.
So yeah. Utterly horrible what those sailors suffered. Maybe there should be some kind of recognition in general for suffering well. But that's not what the Medal of Honor is for--that's for like which of the survivors saved such and such number of people, for example.
You know what sucks? If it was, as SharkBytes guy says, the sailors who were ripping off parts of their clothes who died first--then many of those guys were the guys who tried to save other people. That's hella evil to me, that you get punished that way for trying to do something good.
MoH recommendations have to have conspicuous Gallantry going above and beyond risking Life and Limb during combat . This situation though Gallant in helping their fellow sailors doesnt fit the criteria. There's little difference between here and people fighting in the bulge freezing to death. Both Fought the elements in a shitty situation.
I read about the survivors bodies after the rescue and the breakdown of skin in the salt water was so catastrophic. I was shocked at the damage from the water, of course the oil, fuel, and sun did nothing for their skin and many had burns from the fires during the ship sinking. If you really research the survivors you can see these men were in bad shape before the sharks arrived to investigate. Whoever developed a raft that left you standing in water didn't really think things through. Thanks for the video.
what a horrible design even in temperate and tropical seas you do not want people in the water.
One propeller screw was still on full blast and many were jumping off the back getting chopped or smashing of the still props. So the blood in water was wild amounts
@@MichaelPhillips-jw4bj Taking into account how little blood is needed in the water for a shark to detect it, the blood from even one person who had been chopped up by a screw would attract sharks from MILES away!
From a search and rescue perspective, you'd want the raft to be brightly colored, so it would be easily seen from the air.
@@stewartmillen7708 Haha, blood probably isn't the ideal way of colouring it!
Incredible video! The amount of detail and information you gave just shows how much you researched this topic and how much you thought it through. This is something that comes up a lot whenever I say 'sharks aren't monsters', the usual response being "tell that to the men of the USS Indianapolis". Of course some men were attacked and eaten by sharks and that is truly awful, but I think most people don't realise how much the elements played a role. Anyway, great video man! Glad to see you back.
Thanks Wild World, really enjoyed making this one!
Very true. Those guys were barking mad from dehydration, heatstroke, sunburn, fear of the sharks and (some of them) drinking sea water. A true hell in my book. I read somewhere recently that on the last day there was some sort of huge knife fight amongst about 50x guys! The experience truly begs belief really.
⁶⁶{oooooooooooooooooo
A truly amazing video!
But one little thing: the sentence "I did not see a single man attacked by a shark" might mean: "while being attacked", and not necessarily: "who had not been subject to any shark attack prior to death"... right?
I don't know how you're not more popular, your videos are so interesting, at such a high quality and so interesting to watch, about an amazing topic aswell, you're honestly one of the hidden gems of youtube. Thanks for the awesome shark content :)
Damn the algorithm! Well I’m at least happy you found us 😁
I've just subscribed....I love sharks...they have an incredibly awful reputation ❤
He's hard to watch, cadence on voice is difficult to keep up with. He seems like he is rushing. This is my first impression, never saw the guy until now.
Totally agree!
@@crisprtalk6963
I think his cadence seems "off" due to the accent. I have trouble with understanding some of his words (did he say life rafts had CEMENT* under them? Lol, I had to rewind 3x!) The audio is also a little low for me, but otherwise, he's VERY informative.😊 Ironic that he was recommended BECAUSE of Ocean Ramsey; he should thank her for the views before scolding her😂
I have heard so much about this event and never was it brought up that the rafts attracting things other than sharks could've led them, amongst the bleeding men and other factors, to somewhat of a frenzy. So i'm glad you focused on that in this vid and brought this knew perspective about this tragic event to light. Cheers, great work!
Wanted to try and give a slightly differently perspective to the other vids out there on UA-cam!
@@SHARKBYTES It's very much appreciated, keep on educating!
And sharks have some of the best sense of smell of any wild animal probably. Believe they detect smells from miles away underwater.
I have heard at least one account from one of the sailors that he saw a tiger shark several times. In fact, the men had given that particular shark a nickname. I don't recall what the name was. The person telling the story said that he, for unknown reasons, got really mad at the shark and stuck his knife in its head. Whereupon it swam away and he didn't see it again.
Yes I remember hearing that. I also remember hearing the sailor got it in his head he wanted to drink sharks blood and that's why he tried to stab it. Dehydration and salt water induced psychosis I'd presume.
@@luxbrumalis823 Yes, that's the one. It seems like he called the shark Oscar, or something like that.
I remember reading this account too
Great video Kristian!! I think you did a fantastic job of not over sensationalizing the sharks presence in this tragic event, while also not going overboard " letting them off the hook" no pun intended;) I particularly found your theory of the rafts interesting and had never considered that but that theory really does hold weight and shouldn't be counted out. Just a horrific tragedy all around and not good press at all for our shark friends. They are just doing what animals will do in an opportunistic feeding situation.
Interesting what you say about sharks possibly being attracted to exposed (lighter) skin.
The sinking of HMS Birkenhead in 1852 off S. Africa, hundreds of Brit soldiers tried to swim to shore 3 miles away & died.
This one account: "Nearly all those that took to the water without their clothes on were taken by sharks; hundreds of them were all round us, and I saw men taken by them close to me, but as I was dressed (having on a flannel shirt and trousers) they preferred the others."
I think exposed skin can play a big part in the risk of being bitten, especially with certain species of shark!
I think the natural color makes u look more like natural prey, different colors and patterns that arnt natural make them think "not my prey"
Isn't this the reason south Africans called great white sharks "tommy sharks"??
Surfers with silvery reflective boards increase their chances (which truthfully are very slim to start with)
It makes me think of all the kids swimming lessons where they are taught to immediately remove your clothes if you fall in, so they can be inflated as a flotation device instead of being a weight to drag you down.
Season 5 of SharkBytes!!! Is this the season where it is revealed you have a long lost twin shark brother?
In seriousness, great video! Nice to see you back again! I was really fascinated to hear about the attacks between life rafts and no life rafts. That is an aspect I've never heard about before and I think it is a legitimate hypothesis to further upon.
I agree, as well, that the main culprit of deaths on the USS Indianapolis was drowning, dehydration, salt water consumption and other factors. I remember that story of the dozen or so men who swore they could see the Indianapolis just below them, with a running water fountain working, and they all swam down to have a drink, drowning in the process.
Great video!
The stories of men going mad from saltwater ingestion were just horrific to read…
There is also a theory that, particularly late in the war, sharks had developed a Pavlovian sort of response to oil in the water. Downed planes and sinking ships signaled to the sharks there was an easy feed. As for the rafts attracting fish and then attracting bigger fish, I wouldn't expect this to happen for days.
Exploding boilers from sinking ships would probably have had a bigger impact of shark behavior. Sharks are attracted to low-frequency sounds.
@@grahamstrouse1165 all sorts of low frequency sounds from a sinking ship! Bulkheads bursting, boilers exploding, heavy machinery rolling around!
I've always been interested in sharks and I love that I found your channel recently!
Your ideas about the liferafts as well as just the flashing skin in the water are both really unique takes that I haven't heard before and it's so interesting to look at things from that perspective.
Definitely gained a sub, thank you for your content!
Thanks for subscribing, welcome to Shark Bytes!!
Been begging for your take on this one for ages! I am definitely not disappointed! Thank you for a rational, level-headed perspective on this incident!! Well done!!!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting!!
I thought you were pretty thorough and accurate! You did make mention of ships dumping what we called, "wet garbage" in the navy--especially food waste from the galley--and that marine animals will follow ships as a food source. So, during basic training an old boatswain told us that the primary danger of going overboard wasn't drowning, or getting sucked into the prop-wash, but it was large marine predators. Makes sense...
In all of this tragedy lets not forget the additional tragedy of Captain McVay whom, after having his life shattered by the event itself, which even according to the man who sunk the ship was unavoidable, was then ripped apart in public proceedings and eventually took his own life.
I've been taught as a diver not to wear anything light in color or shiny when diving with sharks. I've experienced this personally, and it seems to be accurate.
Yup i hear yellow is the most attractive color to them other than to have gold and silver jewerly
My whole family are Royal Navy. My grandad told me a story when I was a little boy (he’s long gone now so I’m unable to ask him about it again) . During the Second World War He was picking up survivors from a sinking in the Indian Ocean (could’ve been the Indianapolis) and as one sailor was stepping across from a raft to the nets on the side of the ship a shark lunged at him at took off both his legs.
Did he survive?
@@Americanpatriot-zo2tk if the shark really did take off both his legs, then it is highly unlikely you would survive so much blood loss.
@@antoniorl7549 agreed
Indy didn't go down in the Indian Ocean, so not the same ship or incident.
No idea if he survived.
Really interesting points, especially the life rafts themselves creating a bit of a lure.
I did also watch an account from survivors and it seems (according to whatever documentary I was watching) there was a lot of arguing and unrest (so likely lots of splashing) leading up to the attacks in some rafts, but that in the rafts where people were calmer, there were little to no noted attacks.
Definitely would have made a different (the splashing)!
Top notch, buddy, welcome back, you've started your new series off with a bang! Really interesting theories on the oil and life rafts. As the noise of the sinking acted as a dinner bell I think there may have been a number of different species involved. Maybe blues and makos may have been less skittish once they'd been around the men for a while, I know that blue sharks have been implicated in other sea disasters. How many were killed rather than scavenged? As a complete stab in the dark I'd say around 50, some survivors recount frequent attacks and I guess the more blood in the water the more frenzied the sharks became.
Its obviously a lot of educated guess work r.e the implicated species, but i definitely take your point about the blues!
Hi Kristian, have you ever looked into the Oceanic white tip attack on Bret Gilliam and his team? two sharks attacked and killed his teammate Rob with extremely unusual aggressive behavior.
I'd be very interested to hear your take on it.
Hi Tim, I’ll make sure to check this out!
Not unusual. There is a reason the most famous modern sea explorer called it the most dangerous shark in the ocean.
Great video and good to get the analysis of a real shark expert on a tragic event. I bet the survivors and the families of the dead would have been fuming at the commanders who received the distress signals but failed to act. I wonder if they were ever disciplined.
Thank you - really glad you enjoyed it! It would be interesting to know if there were any repercussions
I had always been really dubious about this story thanks to how much sensationalism and shark fearmongering happened around it. Thanks to this, It feels like sometimes people just act like this IS what happens when there is a shipwreck rather than, this was a particularly tragic incident that was taken advantage of by opportunistic shark species. The water doggos were just doin' what they do, they can't be blamed for this like so many people seem to want to do. It is really nice to see a more in-depth look at it from someone who actually studies these animals. Wonderful video and I can't wait to see more for Season 5, my first season of the channel to be here for, being a recent sub. :D
There's no question the sharks played their part, but the elements were definitely the major killer! Glad to have you on the channel :D
@@SHARKBYTES Thanks :) Happy to be here!
It's like blaming a coyote for eating a carcass of some not-very nutritious animal. Don't blame them for being scavengers.
"The water doggos" what the actual fuck. Go pet them, dive into the ocean and go play with these cutesie wutesie "water doggos":3. Give them a kiss and a boop on the snout for me.
@@porkkana9898 Shut.
All of us here are eager to learn more about this type of stuff and of course the sharks. I am asking each family (immediate-too expensive otherwise) what animal they want to be able to watch their journey for from Fahlo and have as a bracelet. Hopefully they still have your support and recommendation. Looking forward to more season 5. 😀
Absolutely!! Make sure you use that SHARKBYTES20 code 😁😁
I wonder if the group the doctor was in may have been pulled tightly enough together that they appeared to the sharks as being a single, extremely large creature, which made them afraid to attack, similar to their reaction to a healthy, active wale.
I saw on another some of them did that in the attacked groups, but when someone at the edges would drift they were picked off by the sharks
My grandfather was the 2nd engineer on the SS East Indiana. It was a United States Merchant Marine ship that was built in 1940 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was named after the state of Indiana and was one of the 2,710 Liberty ships built during World War II. The ship was used to transport cargo during the war. They were 300 miles off the coast of Cape Town south Africa when they were torpedo and sunk within 2 minuets by a German submarine on November 3, 1942. My grandfather and his shipmates spent 13 days adrift and my grandfather was killed and eaten by sharks. One of the survives Stanley Maclean wrote the book, 13 Days Adrift. RIP Grandpop.
What a horrible tragedy! Sorry for your family's loss!
I wouldn't be so quick to discard big blue sharks. Being pelagic species, they seem to behave somewhat similar to oceanic whitetips.
Love your concise coverage of what your buddy Hal of Sharks Happen covered.
Nugget of Knowledge: Quint (Robert Shaw) speech was ad-libbed by him because he didn't like what they wanted him to say!
I never considered that the smaller fish would have collected under the rafts but it makes perfect sense. I believe the most likely shark was the white tip. They are pretty brave when it comes to food. I always thought it would have been the noise and blood that would have brought the sharks but your explanation seems to be extremely accurate from a logical prospective. Great video.
It's not really a question what kind of sharks they were.
Sharks r definitely attracted to flaining and screaming it signifies "weak animals" weak aminals =easy prey
the last podcast on the left covered the sinking of the USS indianapolis and it was a fantastic telling of the story.
Glad to see you back man , it's been a minute since you popped up on my feed. I hope that you had a nice vacation.
Thank you! Well rested and fully charged for this season
Thank you. My uncle Harlan C. Havener was a survivor of the sinking of the Indianapolis.
Oh my that was such a great episode Kj, didn’t know anything about this before watching your video - great job, loved it.
Thanks Mum!
How could you forget the shark hunter from JAWS
Described his time on this ship during his enlistment
It was a chilling rendition
"Why did the sharks attack?"...one of the most ridiculously obvious questions i heard in a while.
They didn’t attack, they had food thrown onto their plate.
Im so glad that Robert Marc Lehmann pointed your videos out, because of him I now can listen to all your interesting content!
Sharks are the ocean, no sharks means no healthy ocean.... We must protect and for this we need man like you and Robert, who can stirr something up inside of us all.
Please keep going, you are brilliant ❤
Very interesting theory about the rafts attracting small fish. Always thought it was strange that large groups never had shark trouble. You’d imagine they’d have been plenty bodies for the sharks to feed off
Sharks r strategic hunters and LOVE to get "stragglers" and they r often "the weaker members " of a group and therfor easier pray. Sharks live to live, food is above anything and everything.
@@jes6427 You are 100% correct, its well documented that spotter planes often report hundreds of sharks around the survivors who are tethered in a group, in many cases only once they break free from the group to reach the rescue boat are they attacked.
The season premiere of shark bytes on my birthday??! Hell yes! Good to have you back!! 🦈 ❤
Happy belated birthday Emily!
Thank you so much for covering this story! So interesting to hear your perspective!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Welcome back! Great to have shark bytes videos back in my recommended videos :) I hope you had a good time and am looking forward to lots of new and interesting videos.
So glad to be back, got some great videos planned for this season :D
@@SHARKBYTES can't wait to see what you have planned :)
Loved it, especially the history aspect
Glad you enjoyed Kingmaker!
I have no idea how many shark attacks there where now… as this has shed a totally different light on the subject… thanks 🙏🏻
Thank you for this video!! I found your channel a little while ago and have been really interested to learn that sharks aren't the 'Jaws monster' but actually are amazing creatures - but being a history buff I thought about the Indianapolis...... awesome to see a scientist's explanation about it!!!
Glad you enjoyed the video!! This one took an age to make 😅
An epic return!!! I've missed you, happy you're back. Hope you had a wonderful break
Can't wait for this season, we've got some goodies coming up!
A really interesting analysis, especially the bit about the rafts. I'd never heard that before! Discovered your channel only a few days ago and have enjoyed your content, cheers! I used to be obsessed with sharks as a youngster and whilst that obsession didn't quite develop, I still find them fascinating and enjoy learning about them. Many thanks!
Thank you - I’m glad you enjoyed it, and welcome to Shark Bytes 😁🦈
Because i have become obsessed with kayaking and the ocean, im am thoroughly invested in understanding sharks to pretext myself and my family and still have amazing adventures
Hal from Sharks Happen covered this story really well.
I did enjoy Hal’s reading of the events David, hopefully you enjoyed this Shark Bytes video though!
@@SHARKBYTES yes I did. I love sharks so really love your content. I just watched your review of The Shallows. In regards to the dead whale I was thinking perhaps in real life you'd still run the risk of getting bit by a shark due to territoriality. Would that be a possibility?
@@davidjbiscoe957 a definite possibility from a territoriality perspective, defending a prey item. Although we do often see carcasses being shared not only within individual shark species, but between different shark species as well!
@@SHARKBYTES AH OK. Looking forward to your next video
To be fair, he did. He's a decent enough storyteller, it's only when he bleats out his own wacky opinions that he starts falling down rabbit holes.
really well done sir...so much history surrounding the events of the Indianapolis...I was told the WW2 museum in New Orleans would be showing more info on this topic...because when I was there a couple years ago there wasn't any that I saw...so I asked...and was told that would be added....
I was a flight deck aircraft director from 1987 to 1991. While underway, we would dump garbage overboard at 1700 hours every day. It did not matter where we were. Religiously within 2 minutes, sharks would appear and swim thru the garbage. It was well known that a man overboard was probably a death sentence.
Welcome back! What an interesting topic to kick off the season with!
Thanks so much, so glad to be back!
Thanks for doing this video!! Just last week I watched USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. While I realize the focus of the story is their mission and the tragic loss of life, I could not stop from yelling at the screen each time a shark attack was shown. A majority of the time it was some stock footage of, wait for it, Great Whites. I guess a shark is a shark is a shark…. Very disappointing for a big budget Hollywood movie.
Perhaps I should do a Shark Bytes movie commentary on that film!
Came to watch this video because you mentioned it was your dad’s favorite! Keep making him proud!
soooo stoked for this video! :3
Hope you enjoyed!
@@SHARKBYTES I always do! Welcome back for season 5! Glad to see you looking happy & healthy ^^
I have the 1991 movie Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis it's an interesting watch. While not my favorite movie by a long shot, it is suppose to be a pretty truthful telling of the incident, and worth watching for that alone. Lots of familiar actors as well. I haven't seen the Nicolas Cage movie but from what I've read I don't want to.
Great vid Kris, always going to be very difficult to ascertain what actually 'went down', apart from the Idianapolis !
For the poor souls who found their selves in that absolute nightmare situation, definitely "wrong place, wrong time"
How lucky were those crew who disembarked just prior to the Japanese torpedoes hitting the Hull ?
The soldiers departing in Guam must have had to live with survivors guilt for the rest of their lives 😳😳
@@SHARKBYTES Or just breathed a collective huge sigh of relief every day for the rest of their lives. When's your next vid btw? Been ages.
@@mojo2679 This weekend :) - been on holiday having some r&r
@@SHARKBYTES Great. Look forward to it.
Super interesting stuff. I was kind of hoping for an analysis on all the accounts and like a breakdown of how many accounts came from what group etc. I would have watched for 30 more minutes I bet if you did that.
This is my first video of yours. I subbed while watching AVNJ videos with you in them but never actually watched any of your videos thus far.
I dig the long format. Aside from the aforementioned desires for more depth, 15 minutes is about right for the format in my opinion.
I’ll keep trying to make the videos a decent length, it’s been one of my goals to try and keep them above the 10 minute mark for a while now! Hope to continue to see you on the channel :)
@@SHARKBYTES for sure! I watched a few more videos before getting distracted. Great stuff!
It's too bad that the veterans who were actually there and have written many accounts were all wrong apparently (heavy sarcasm). Anyone who says there were only 12 or so attacks needs to actually research the accounts of the different groups.
The same thing happened on the Abner Read but no body ever talks about only the people who was there remember that day like my Uncle Skiz
That was a brilliant video. It’s hugely interesting to see a fresh take on such a well known subject. Good to have you back Shark Bytes!
Thanks John, I’m glad to be back!!
Another amazing informational video!!!! I'm so excited for the new season of Shark Bytes!!!
Thanks Melanie - glad to be back :)
I watched Wendigoon's take on this subject and even he named it the worst shark attack in history, which was kind of upsetting to hear because it felt like people were antagonizing the shark too much. Really glad to see someone actually analyzing the sharks' behavior during the Indianapolis incident and doing them justice. Great video!
Thanks so much, tried to keep it nice and balanced
@@SHARKBYTES Thanks for responding! Just a little side note. Have you ever heard about the incident where a tagged female white shark disappeared in Australia with only the tag being washed up on the shores? I've only heard rumors and cheap explanations related to this topic. If you could, can you make your own video about this topic?
"Sharks, silent hunters of the deep", with passages by valerie and Ron taylor, is one of the best books out there. Lots of witness/survivor stories about the indianapolis tragedy.
Sharks weren't the main culprit, but I just got through a video of a survivor telling his story. He mentions living people being attacked (dead ones don't scream). It sounded like those were individuals who drifted away from groups. He did mention those who drank salt water going crazy and killing their own mates.
On the clothing: some of the men had little clothing on (given the heat and when the attack happened). Those who had clothing tried to help the wounded. I understand that sharks can be attracted to shiny/sharp contrast items. I'm not sure if the using clothing as bandages actually was much of a factor, given that many guys were only partly clothed from the get go.
The education given to those serving in the armed forces at the time may have also played a role. They were actually told to splash at sharks to scare them off. They were told sharks were sissies. Basically, they had a morale problem because men were afraid of shark encounters and the solution was to make up something that would make the men feel better. Obviously that didn't work out well for some people.
The sinking of the Indianapolis goes to show 1) why good information needs to be gotten to those most likely to need it, 2) why we should all take the time to learn about how to mitigate dangers, and 3) why you don't skimp on safety equipment.
When I was a Yellowstone I remember some people saying they really wanted to see a Grizzly Bear. I’m happy to see a Grizzly Bear and sharks on TV only.
Isn't there a report that some of the predation was done by Humboldt squid? Sharks weren't the only predator involved, i believe, just the most recognisable ones
I hadn’t seen this before Jo, I’ll have to do some reading!
I thought Humboldt only lived in like the Sea of Cortez and around that area?? I'm not sure at ALL about that tho...
I lost my uncle on this ship which his name is Clifford Mann. I went to Manila ,Philippines America cemetery twice that saw his name on the wall. There is no beautiful cemetery in the world as beautiful as this one. Because he was missing he didn’t have a cross. I kind of disagree with this young man about the sharks plus he was not there. I just listen to the Marine Edgar Harrell he saw many sharks attacks. I saw videos of the rescues by ship and I didn’t see 400 men together , they was in smaller groups. I can’t take your side of story .
It's bout friggin time mate. 🤙🏊♂
Feel refreshed and ready to go with some brand new content for you :D
@@SHARKBYTES 🥳✌
Absolutely fascinating! Love these videos. I've been obsessed with sharks for over 50 years and great to hear some scientific insight, adding balance to these well documented attacks👍
come on sharks attacked a lot of them
This story has captured my imagination and fear since Quint recounted it in Jaws. I was 7. Because if that movie I developed an unnatural fear of sharks to the point that I felt it in pools. This bit of WWII history has been mixed with legend and Hollywood. Good that we can set the record straight.
Clearly, the attacks were by Megalodons. 😉
Great video! Look forward to the next one!
Those bloody Megs…
I use to go to a Military History Group, we had a survivor of the Indianapolis....quite interesting.
It is possible for for more than one species of shark to have been involved in the attacks or would it have deterred others by having say Oceanic White Tips present?
I think it’s entirely possible more than one species was responsible. Big tiger sharks could have definitely scared off the smaller species in my opinion.
Can’t get enough of your channel ❤ Please keep making more content; an episode about lesser known sharks would be cool too.
I’m a Retired Navy Chief petty Officer of 22 years, if you fall into an ant bed, your bound to get stung. Falling into the ocean is 1000 times WORSE. it’s always been a fear of mine to be stranded at night afloat at sea. The things I’ve seen in the water would keep ANYONE out of it. Some of the things myself and others have witnessed out at sea, haunts our memories. Sharks are scary, but surprisingly NOT your only fear. I’ll just say this, we are NOT alone.
Honestly this is a very interesting comment and id like to know more. What have you seen to make you believe this? Who's in the ocean?
He could tell us but then he'd have to kill us. I'd venture UAPs/USOs.... Just a extrapolation...
the convention based on pre-nuclear era: a sub patrols an assigned area. On detecting ships coming his general direction, if daytime, sub submerges to avoid detection. Surfaces at night, races ahead to get in firing position. This may be a bit ahead and submerges again to wait for target to arrive.
Merchants of this era could do 9-14kt. Subs ~18kt on surface. Warships have top speed of 27kt+, but range cited for 14-15kt, most economical speed.
On important missions, a cruiser may do 25kt for extended period (SF to Pearl was traversed at 29kt - must have burned all the fuel). I seem to recall Indianapolis was doing 25Kt at sinking?
This means a sub intercept is difficult unless it was going nearly directly at the sub. This is why the fast passenger liners capable of 25kt went without escort.
The bad luck here was that Indy took a direct line course from Guam to Leyte, meaning Japanese were almost obligated to put subs in a line perpendicular to this path.
Would anyone be interested in a dedicated channel devoted to Shark Sightings around UK ? It's something that has intrigued me my whole life. Ps , love this channel another great video too.
Always keen for that kind of content!
This excellent video is a year old but new to me > go figure > Subscribed & binging on what I've missed 😮 well-crafted content...
@@cjdingojames3715 thanks! Welcome to Shark Bytes, we’ve got loads of content across the channel that I hope you’ll enjoy, and new videos out every Sunday at 9pm GMT
The hoomans were trespassing
Definite trespass into the ocean
@SHARK BYTES you should do a video on the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916
I actually first learnt of this tragedy as a kid while watching Jaws. When Quint and Hooper were talking about it and telling Brody what happened when they were getting drunk on the boat in the evening.
Thank you for your explanation and it does make sense. I would like to thank those men and women that serve in the armed forces. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Glad you enjoyed the video Alicia!
@@SHARKBYTES I did. I have a fascination with sharks and I just love them. They are so important to the oceans. I pretty much knew that the Oceanic White Tip was responsible for most of the activity. I won't call them attacks because they didn't seek to attack anyone. When we enter their world we are subject to those consequences. From what I understand, the sharks scavenged on those already dead. Can we call it predation on those that were alive or was it exploratory? It is hard to say because each shark is different. One shark may "attack" and consume while another may explore it's options. I agree that Tigers also participated in this tragic event. Thanks again for your vlog. I really enjoy learning more about sharks.
Even if it was 12-150 men killed by sharks, that's still got to be the worst shark attack in history. Where would there ever have been more than that many shark attacks in one event?
The main culprit of deaths on the Indy was being slammed with 2 torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The second main culprit of the deaths on the Indy was top brass of the US Navy dropping the ball therefore leaving out there for so long. It was criminal what those same brass did to McVay as well, but they had to blame someone. He ultimately took his life on the front steps of his home dressed in his uniform. The ultimate culprits in his death was the top brass of the US Navy. The sharks, the salt water, the sun, the heat...they were just doing what they do. I wouldn't call them "culprits"
I enjoyed watching this. Hal from "sharks happen" recommended you. Said you should have a lot more subscribers than you do. I agree.
Until a month or so ago I'd have agreed that the mako wasn't likely to be involved, but not long ago I saw a video about the attacks at the resort in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and learned that a mako was confirmed as being the culprit in at least one of the lethal attacks. This surprised me so much that I did some more research and learned that makos have been seen using a very interesting - and vicious - hunting technique where they will gain a tremendous amount of speed at distance and "immobilize" prey by hitting the tail fin and taking it clean off, and I mean BIG prey like marlins and sword fish and even the whole back-half of grown tuna. I think a grown mako going 50mph could absolutely take a leg or arm off in one go, much like the poor woman killed by a mako in the Red Sea I mentioned.
The Mako in the Red Sea attacks actually only wounded two men with one more severe than the other. Then it was killed. The fatality and more severe injuries were caused by the Oceanic White Tips.
The moment you realize it’s a shark propagandists
Requim sharks are pretty common near wrecks etc
Firstly, I am an advocate for sharks, before I go any further. They are an amazing oceanic predator that I admire very much. That’s amazing, that one group were pretty much left alone. Based on the doctor’s recollection of the events. But the raft group had issues with sharks and shark bites. Do you know what colour the raft was? I’ve watched a few documentaries where scientists were testing different patterns and colours around certain species of sharks, to see their reaction to it. Different patterns and colours definitely made a clear difference. Enough to prove that colour and pattern demonstrates that sight plays quite a large role in identifying prey. Great Whites being the top as visual predators. Obviously not one of the species involved in this particular situation. I wonder if the colour and patterns on the life rafts were perhaps attracting the sharks as well? Just a thought. I mean along with things like - blood, urine, faeces (men would have had to relieve themselves in the water). Plus the sharks sensing the distress of the injured and element/s exposed sailors.
There was an incident off the QLD coast in Australia which the film “The Reef” was loosely based on. The shark species in the film was a Great White. The shark species in the true story was a Tiger shark. ( I honestly don’t know, why the film makers just didn’t tell the true/original story of what happened). Instead of basing it so loosely on the real events, it ends up telling a different story.) Anyways, a fishing trawler sank with 3 crew members aboard. Only 1 ended up surviving after miraculously making it to a large protective, oceanic reef. The other 2 crew members were taken & killed by what appeared to be the same large Tiger shark. The 1 survivor had shark bites all over him, he’d somehow managed to protect himself enough until he was rescued by helicopter. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this particular true story. If you are interested, please let me know. I’ll drop you a link. I very much enjoyed your video. 👍
The USS Indianapolis was an incredible example of leadership too. The strong leaders in life boats were able to ration resources and keep the minds in tact of the sailors in their group. There are dark written accounts of bad leadership and these life boats that became “lawless” had murder and grape minus the g. Could you imagine surviving the moment just to be killed by a fellow deranged sailor?