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The Story of a Survivor, Chapter 2This story may contain adult content. |
| Written by Amie Kerlin | |
| Sunday, 10 August 2008 | |
The Days at Sea...
The water was so cold that night and it was so dark, I could barely see anything, only what the moon cast it‘s light on. We tried to huddle together as best we could so we wouldn't drift away from each other. I'm sure we were all in shock from what had just happened. It seemed so unbelievable and it just happened too damned fast. It was so strange that the rhythmic bobbing of the sea swell was so soothing, but the reason we were in the water in the first place was so terrifying. The sun rose that first day and we were so grateful for it because it would warm us up some. After doing a makeshift head count we figured we had about a hundred men scattered around in our group. We thought we were the only survivors. We couldn't see anyone else past our group, only wreckage from the ship. Some of us had grabbed some empty potato boxes or chairs that had floated past us for something to lean on. We all figured we would be rescued soon. After all, we were due in Leyte at 11 that morning. Not long after the sun rose, we noticed that some of the wounded that were on the outskirts of our group were missing. At first we just figured that they had drowned. Then we saw the fins. Grey fins with the white tips on them. We watched them circle around for awhile before we saw them attack a man who was floating by himself. I'll never forget that sight for as long as I live nor will I be able to silence his dying screams. By that first afternoon I was getting pretty thirsty. My mouth was extremely dry from being out in the heat for so long. We knew we couldn't drink the sea water. They had trained us not to because it would make us hallucinate and go insane. That first day the fact that we were surrounded by water wasn't THAT much of a temptation for me. The sun's rays however, were a real problem. Some of the guys had started to put the oil that was floating on the water surface on their faces to deflect some of the light. I didn't know if it would work, but anything was worth a try. I was really starting to get burned. When night fell that second night I was beginning to get worried. Why hadn't they come yet? Maybe we had just drifted, they'd be here soon I thought. During the day we had prayed for the sun to go down so that we could have some relief from the unrelenting heat, but now at night we were praying for the sun to come back up because it was so cold. We'd had to shove some of the men away from the group because they had died during the day. We didn't want to risk drawing the sharks in any closer. The nights were so long. I could never rest it seemed. I was so tired, but there was just no way to rest completely. If I drifted off I'd soon feel like I was sinking or drifting away from the group so my eyes would snap back open. For those few minutes of sleep though I would have nightmares of the sharks and their lifeless black eyes. Eyes that had no souls and jaws with only one purpose-- to tear and shred their meals. No, sleep eluded us all. That second day we saw even more sharks circling around us slowly closing in. It seemed they were everywhere. Another night has come. The third night and still they haven't come for us. I wasn't sure how much longer we could last. The dawn of the third day came and thankfully warmed us with the sun's rays. That morning it was also very obvious that some of the men had been drinking the sea water. There were a few who were just out of their minds already telling anyone who would listen that they were all just imagining the Indianapolis had sunk. They really believed that they were still on the ship. Some of us tried to keep others from drinking the water, but soon we realized that it was no use because they would fight with us to get that drink. Nobody had enough energy to fight amongst ourselves like that. By now, the sharks were just everywhere. They were getting braver and we could hear some of the men yelling and slapping the water to fight them off. They had never attacked at night. Until the night of the third day -- our fourth night at sea. The nights were always quiet, just the sound of the water lapping against our boxes and our lifejackets. But that night brought screams to break up the silence, yeah every once in awhile I would hear a man scream and I knew the sharks had gotten to him. I kept thinking they HAD to come soon to pick us up, why had it taken them so long? The morning of the fourth day, the sun rose hot as it had the previous three days. By this time I was so thirsty and hungry. I knew we were dehydrated, some of the men were really showing signs of exposure and we were all just waterlogged. Our lifejackets weren't made to last longer than 72 hours and they were losing their buoyancy. In the evening I heard my buddy Woody James remark that he would "give his front seat in heaven and walk the rotten log all the way through hell for just one cool drink of water." I know I felt the same way. I think most of the men were beginning to really lose hope. Until. Until we saw the plane. We saw planes the entire time we were stranded, but they were always up so high and going so fast there was no way they could see us. This one though, was down lower and flying much slower. Some of the men had mirror-like objects and they were using them to try and get the pilot's attention. At first we thought the pilot didn't see us so imagine our surprise when the plane turned and tipped its wings at us. He saw us! We were finally going to be rescued!
To Be Continued.... Copyright 2008 Amie Kerlin |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 10 August 2008 ) |
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