On this episode of Our American Stories, Robert Shaw's "Quint" told the world about what happened to the USS Indianapolis in the hit movie "Jaws." The late Edgar Harrell, the last surviving Marine from the downed ship, tells the real-life story of that fateful day. It's a story you won't soon forget.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
And we continue with our Memorial Day special here on
our American Stories. Up next, the story of America's worst
naval disaster. It took a movie about a shark terrorizing
a small New England town in the summer of nineteen
seventy five for millions of Americans to discover the story
(00:38):
of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. It was the
night scene and Jaws in the cabin of the Orca,
as the intrepid shark hunters used some much needed downtime
to drink some booze and swap some fish stories. It's
a scene anyone not living under a rock for the
past half century has seen, and it's worth sharing before
(00:59):
telling the rest of the story of that eight full
day back in late July of nineteen forty five. In
the cabin sharing those fish stories was the town cop
played by Roy Scheider, the new age shark hunter played
by Richard Dreyfuss, and the old school sea captain named
Quint played by Robert Shaw. The scene begins with some laughs,
(01:21):
but when Quint tells the guys he'd been a crew
member of the USS Indianapolis, everything turned somber. He proceeded
to tell the Boys. One of the most brutal fish
stories of all times. Here's Robert Shaw.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Eleven hundred men went into the water. This will went
down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first show for
better half an hour. Tiger thirteen foot, very first life.
Chief sharks come cruiding. So we formed ourselves into tight groups,
(01:58):
and the idea was, Shah comes the nearest man. Then
money'stet bounding, hollering and screaming. Sometimes a shark gooy, sometimes
he way. Sometimes as Shaggy looks right into you, went
into your eyes. You know the thing about his Shaggy's
get lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was a teenager when I saw that scene, and
I was not unfamiliar with the costs of war. My
mother's only brother volunteered to join the army in nineteen
forty four. He never came home. He's buried in a
grave site in Saint Laurent. Friends. The next day I
went to my local library and started reading up. Remarkably,
(02:48):
the scene was accurate in almost all aspects. It turns
out the US Indianapolis was no stranger to adversity. The
ship commissioned in nineteen thirty was struck by a Kamikazi
attack during the Battle of Okinawa. The ship was sent
back to California for an overhaul and was soon at
sea again, this time on a top secret mission, transporting
(03:10):
critical components of the atomic bomb to Tinian Island, fifteen
hundred miles from Japan. The uranium on the ship was
nearly half of the total US supply. The crew was
unaware of the nature of the cargo or its intended use,
but the commanding officers knew something urgent was happening. They
were under direct orders from President Truman that the ship
(03:33):
was not to be diverted from its mission for any reason.
What was on that ship? A week later, the world
would know the answer. Theonola Gay dropped an atomic bomb
on a city it was until then pretty much unknown, Hiroshima.
After completing its mission, the Indianapolis headed back to sea.
(03:53):
Shortly after midnight on July thirtieth, halfway between Guam and
ley Ti Gulf, a Japanese sub blasted the unescorted Indianapolis,
sparking an explosion that split the ship and caused it
to think in twelve minutes, with three hundred men trapped inside,
the nine hundred crew members not trapped in the wreckage
(04:14):
found themselves in the water. One of those men, a
real life quint, was Corporal Edgar Harrold, a twenty year
old marine. He and the surviving seamen were left out
in the Pacific in the sweltering summer heat, with nothing
but a small capon life jacket to keep them afloat.
Here is Harol at Stanley Heights Baptist Church. Not long
(04:36):
after he wrote his memoir Out of the Depth, talking
about that first day lost at sea.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The next morning, the first day we had company. When
I say we had company, at any given time, you
could see a big fin cutting around and around. They're
about eighty of us, and you can imagine the fright
from that. We had trouble staying together so that you know,
hook your jacking on to the next person this form
(05:04):
of circle and try to keep everyone in. And when
we'd go up on a swell, then you'd kind of
drift together. But it isn't long till someone begins to hallucinate.
Maybe he's been injured and he can see in his mind,
he can see an oasis out there. I had one
to swim up to me. Hey, Marien. See that island
over there. I just came from there. Captain Parks looting
(05:27):
and staffers over there they having a picnic. Want you
to come over there, come and join them. I knew better,
but nearly convincing. And then I'd just see him swim
away then to his imagination, and hear a blood curdling
scream and see that capeok go under and then momentarily
(05:49):
a kapeak would bring the body back to the surface.
But you dared not to go and check who you
buddy is because you could see all kinds of fins
coming to the blood and you steered clear completely. But
sometime later maybe you took the dog tag off of
that whomever that was. In checking him, you find out
(06:11):
the bottom torso is gone? Or is this in boweled?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Harold then told the story about the second day lost
at sea and about his marine buddy Spooner.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Spooner said to me, he said, Harold, we don't know
who word got off the ship. No one's looking for us.
And Spooner said, I can't take this anymore. He said,
I'm I'm going to commit to us. Spooner, you're not.
How are you going to do it? He said, I'm
(06:42):
going to swim down so far I'll drown before I
come back up, I said Spooner. There's only two marines
in this group, and there's going to be two marines
when the help comes, and the help will come.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
By day three, only seventeen of the original eighty men
in Harold's group remained alive. Here is Harold about that
third day. Things were looking grim.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
About one o'clock there that third day, we heard voices. Now,
may I say from experience, there's times when you can
hear something that's not there. There's times when you can
see something out there that's not there. Believe me. Third day, noon,
(07:29):
seventeen of us, and we are praying. Everyone that would
pray audibly would pray. Some of us new to whom
we were praying. I remember this one saying, God, if
you're out there, I don't want to die. I've got
a son back home I've never seen. We were desperate.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The next day, day four, while on a routine patrol
in his PV one Ventura, Lieutenant Chuck Win spotted Harold
and his fellow seamen and marines floating adrift in the
Pacific and immediately dropped a life raft and radio transmitter.
Soon all air and surface rescue units were dispatched to
the scene. Of the eleven hundred and ninety six crew
(08:11):
members on board the Indianapolis, only three hundred and sixteen survive.
News of the tragedy wasn't released until August fifteenth, VJ Day.
Questions remain about why the rescue took so long. Some
argued that no distress signal was sent. Others argued that
it was fear that the messages were originated by the
(08:31):
Japanese in an attempt to ambush rescue ships. Others still
that communications lagged because of the top secret status of
the ship's mission. The answer is still unclear. One thing
is certain, the sinking of the Indianapolis was not just
the worst naval disaster in American history. It was the
worst mass shark attack in world history. And that's no fishtail.
(08:56):
Pharrell's autobiography can be found in Indie Survivor dot org.
On the website is a piece of scripture from Psalm
he thought was worth sharing, and he's worth ending this
story with. Out of the depths, have I cried unto
thee O, Lord, Lord, hear my voice, Let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Harold died
(09:21):
on May eighth, twenty twenty one, in Murray, Kentucky, the
age of ninety six. He was the last surviving marine
from the USS Indianapolis. Corporal Edgar Harrold's Story The crew
members of the Indianapolis's story, the story of so many
seamen lost at sea and in battle. Here on our
(09:44):
American story.
And we continue with our Memorial Day special here on
our American Stories. Up next, the story of America's worst
naval disaster. It took a movie about a shark terrorizing
a small New England town in the summer of nineteen
seventy five for millions of Americans to discover the story
(00:38):
of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. It was the
night scene and Jaws in the cabin of the Orca,
as the intrepid shark hunters used some much needed downtime
to drink some booze and swap some fish stories. It's
a scene anyone not living under a rock for the
past half century has seen, and it's worth sharing before
(00:59):
telling the rest of the story of that eight full
day back in late July of nineteen forty five. In
the cabin sharing those fish stories was the town cop
played by Roy Scheider, the new age shark hunter played
by Richard Dreyfuss, and the old school sea captain named
Quint played by Robert Shaw. The scene begins with some laughs,
(01:21):
but when Quint tells the guys he'd been a crew
member of the USS Indianapolis, everything turned somber. He proceeded
to tell the Boys. One of the most brutal fish
stories of all times. Here's Robert Shaw.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Eleven hundred men went into the water. This will went
down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first show for
better half an hour. Tiger thirteen foot, very first life.
Chief sharks come cruiding. So we formed ourselves into tight groups,
(01:58):
and the idea was, Shah comes the nearest man. Then
money'stet bounding, hollering and screaming. Sometimes a shark gooy, sometimes
he way. Sometimes as Shaggy looks right into you, went
into your eyes. You know the thing about his Shaggy's
get lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was a teenager when I saw that scene, and
I was not unfamiliar with the costs of war. My
mother's only brother volunteered to join the army in nineteen
forty four. He never came home. He's buried in a
grave site in Saint Laurent. Friends. The next day I
went to my local library and started reading up. Remarkably,
(02:48):
the scene was accurate in almost all aspects. It turns
out the US Indianapolis was no stranger to adversity. The
ship commissioned in nineteen thirty was struck by a Kamikazi
attack during the Battle of Okinawa. The ship was sent
back to California for an overhaul and was soon at
sea again, this time on a top secret mission, transporting
(03:10):
critical components of the atomic bomb to Tinian Island, fifteen
hundred miles from Japan. The uranium on the ship was
nearly half of the total US supply. The crew was
unaware of the nature of the cargo or its intended use,
but the commanding officers knew something urgent was happening. They
were under direct orders from President Truman that the ship
(03:33):
was not to be diverted from its mission for any reason.
What was on that ship? A week later, the world
would know the answer. Theonola Gay dropped an atomic bomb
on a city it was until then pretty much unknown, Hiroshima.
After completing its mission, the Indianapolis headed back to sea.
(03:53):
Shortly after midnight on July thirtieth, halfway between Guam and
ley Ti Gulf, a Japanese sub blasted the unescorted Indianapolis,
sparking an explosion that split the ship and caused it
to think in twelve minutes, with three hundred men trapped inside,
the nine hundred crew members not trapped in the wreckage
(04:14):
found themselves in the water. One of those men, a
real life quint, was Corporal Edgar Harrold, a twenty year
old marine. He and the surviving seamen were left out
in the Pacific in the sweltering summer heat, with nothing
but a small capon life jacket to keep them afloat.
Here is Harol at Stanley Heights Baptist Church. Not long
(04:36):
after he wrote his memoir Out of the Depth, talking
about that first day lost at sea.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The next morning, the first day we had company. When
I say we had company, at any given time, you
could see a big fin cutting around and around. They're
about eighty of us, and you can imagine the fright
from that. We had trouble staying together so that you know,
hook your jacking on to the next person this form
(05:04):
of circle and try to keep everyone in. And when
we'd go up on a swell, then you'd kind of
drift together. But it isn't long till someone begins to hallucinate.
Maybe he's been injured and he can see in his mind,
he can see an oasis out there. I had one
to swim up to me. Hey, Marien. See that island
over there. I just came from there. Captain Parks looting
(05:27):
and staffers over there they having a picnic. Want you
to come over there, come and join them. I knew better,
but nearly convincing. And then I'd just see him swim
away then to his imagination, and hear a blood curdling
scream and see that capeok go under and then momentarily
(05:49):
a kapeak would bring the body back to the surface.
But you dared not to go and check who you
buddy is because you could see all kinds of fins
coming to the blood and you steered clear completely. But
sometime later maybe you took the dog tag off of
that whomever that was. In checking him, you find out
(06:11):
the bottom torso is gone? Or is this in boweled?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Harold then told the story about the second day lost
at sea and about his marine buddy Spooner.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Spooner said to me, he said, Harold, we don't know
who word got off the ship. No one's looking for us.
And Spooner said, I can't take this anymore. He said,
I'm I'm going to commit to us. Spooner, you're not.
How are you going to do it? He said, I'm
(06:42):
going to swim down so far I'll drown before I
come back up, I said Spooner. There's only two marines
in this group, and there's going to be two marines
when the help comes, and the help will come.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
By day three, only seventeen of the original eighty men
in Harold's group remained alive. Here is Harold about that
third day. Things were looking grim.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
About one o'clock there that third day, we heard voices. Now,
may I say from experience, there's times when you can
hear something that's not there. There's times when you can
see something out there that's not there. Believe me. Third day, noon,
(07:29):
seventeen of us, and we are praying. Everyone that would
pray audibly would pray. Some of us new to whom
we were praying. I remember this one saying, God, if
you're out there, I don't want to die. I've got
a son back home I've never seen. We were desperate.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The next day, day four, while on a routine patrol
in his PV one Ventura, Lieutenant Chuck Win spotted Harold
and his fellow seamen and marines floating adrift in the
Pacific and immediately dropped a life raft and radio transmitter.
Soon all air and surface rescue units were dispatched to
the scene. Of the eleven hundred and ninety six crew
(08:11):
members on board the Indianapolis, only three hundred and sixteen survive.
News of the tragedy wasn't released until August fifteenth, VJ Day.
Questions remain about why the rescue took so long. Some
argued that no distress signal was sent. Others argued that
it was fear that the messages were originated by the
(08:31):
Japanese in an attempt to ambush rescue ships. Others still
that communications lagged because of the top secret status of
the ship's mission. The answer is still unclear. One thing
is certain, the sinking of the Indianapolis was not just
the worst naval disaster in American history. It was the
worst mass shark attack in world history. And that's no fishtail.
(08:56):
Pharrell's autobiography can be found in Indie Survivor dot org.
On the website is a piece of scripture from Psalm
he thought was worth sharing, and he's worth ending this
story with. Out of the depths, have I cried unto
thee O, Lord, Lord, hear my voice, Let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Harold died
(09:21):
on May eighth, twenty twenty one, in Murray, Kentucky, the
age of ninety six. He was the last surviving marine
from the USS Indianapolis. Corporal Edgar Harrold's Story The crew
members of the Indianapolis's story, the story of so many
seamen lost at sea and in battle. Here on our
(09:44):
American story.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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