July 30, 1945, the Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed and sank the USS Indianapolis.The ship sank in about12 minutes, with about 300 men trapped inside, 900 men went into the water. No distress signal could be sent. Survivors endured exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks. After four days four days a routine patrol plane spotted them. Only 316 crew members survived the ordeal
Most know the story through this monologue in the movie Jaws. Just brilliant acting from all three men; Unforgettable.
Brody: "What's that one?"
Quint: "What?"
Brody: "That one, there, on your arm."
Quint: "Oh, uh, that's a tattoo, I got that removed."
Hooper: "Don't tell me, don't tell me...'Mother.'" [he roars with laughter] "What is it..."
Quint solemnly clamps a hand on Hooper's arm: "Mr. Hooper, that's the USS Indianapolis."
Hooper immediately stops laughing: "You were on the Indianapolis?"
Brody: "What happened?"
Quint: "Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know... was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Heh." [he pauses and takes a drink] "They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. Y'know, it's... kinda like ol' squares in a battle like, uh, you see in a calendar, like the Battle of Waterloo, and the idea was, shark comes to the nearest man and that man, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin', and sometimes the shark'd go away... sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. Y'know the thing about a shark, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'... until he bites ya. And those black eyes roll over white, and then... oh, then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin', the ocean turns red, and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces." [he pauses] "Y'know, by the end of that first dawn... lost a hundred men. I dunno how many sharks. Maybe a thousand. I dunno how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland- baseball player, boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up... bobbed up and down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. Young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and come in low and three hours later, a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. Y'know, that was the time I was most frightened, waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a life jacket again. So, eleven hundred men went into the water, three hundred sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945." [he pauses, smiles, and raises his glass] "Anyway... we delivered the bomb."
- "Jaws" (1975)
