‘Worst Shark Attack in History’: 900 USS Indianapolis Sailors Hunted by Sharks (Video)

According to the Smithsonian:

“Sharks were drawn in by the sound of the explosions, the sinking of the ship, and the thrashing and blood in the water. Though many shark species live in the open waters of the Pacific, few are as aggressive toward humans as the oceanic whitetip. Experts generally agree that the Indianapolis sailors fell victim to oceanic whitetip sharks and possibly tiger sharks in what is considered the worst shark attack in history.”

It started with the sharks focusing on the already dead bodies floating in the water. Easy targets. But then, the sailors who were still alive began being targeted.

“Every now and then, like lightning, [a shark] would come straight up and take a sailor and take him straight down,” survivor Loel Dean Cox told BBC News. “One came up and took the sailor next to me. It was just somebody screaming, yelling or getting bit.”

The men sought safety in numbers. They even relinquished their meat rations, in hopes of detracting the sharks from chomping on their bodies. And when someone did die, they would sacrifice the body by pushing it away from the group for the sharks to eat.

Ultimately, they were stranded at sea for four days. In addition to the sharks, many died from drowning and hallucinations brought on by heat exposure and dehydration, which led them to drink saltwater. In the end, it’s unknown how many sailors died from sharks – estimates range from a few dozen to upwards of 150.

But once the remaining crew of the Indianapolis was rescued on August 3rd, of the original 1,196-man crew, only 316 were left. Per the Smithsonian:

“Today, the Indianapolis’ sinking is remembered as one of the deadliest naval disasters in American history.”