WW II Shark Attacks

[Mike Veitch]

For the Indianapolis, Oceanic White Tips and throw in a few Silkys...it is fairly well documented but not sure where...

 

[Drewpy]

I thought it was Whitetips and Silkys as well...?

 

[gfisher4792]

I don't think anyone knows for sure. The men in the water certainly didn't care what type was attacking them, just the fact the sharks were taking them one by one. I believe that the oceanic whitetips were determined to be the most likely sharks in the area.

 

[saildiver]

A buddy of mine and I were talking about WW II shark attacks on sailors that went down and could not figure out the sharks that were responsible for all the attacks and deaths. He said it was the blue while I said the bull sharks.

Anyone know which they were?

Again,as pointed out in a couple of the excellent posts above,although no one will ever know for sure which sharks for certain were responsible for the attacks on each different sinking-it would have had a lot to do with where the sinking occured. If the sinking took place near shore or a reef,the most likely sharks involved would be Grey Reefs,Tigers and Bulls-in a little deeper waters you'd see more Blue Sharks,Silvertips,Whalers;and even further offshore-it would be most likely Blues,which are more numerous,and Oceanic Whitetips,which are more fearless and larger with more voracious appetites....my heart and prayers go out to those who survived those times,as well as those that did not....as well as to their families.....Peace...Saildiver

 

[BacardiSpice]

I'd heard Oceanic Whitetips.

My ex was a ship's officer. We talked a lot about sharks, and he really understood and appreciated my love for them. He had to explain that, with his professional background, he had a lot of ingrained prejudices to work around. The negative perceptions had been given a strong boost early in his career when he came to know a survivor of the Indianapolis

 

[saildiver]

I'd heard Oceanic Whitetips.

My ex was a ship's officer. We talked a lot about sharks, and he really understood and appreciated my love for them. He had to explain that, with his professional background, he had a lot of ingrained prejudices to work around. The negative perceptions had been given a strong boost early in his career when he came to know a survivor of the Indianapolis

I'm sure very strong predjudices against sharks came out of that in your ex. And I'm quite sure that Oceanic White-tips were responsible for a lot of the deaths in the case of the USS Indianapolis-since it was far off shore. However in that disaster-most of the shark attacks came at night, making it vitually impossible to know which sharks were doing the attacking. I"m certain that there must have been a lot of Blue sharks in the area as well. I still think we will probably never know. As a researcher of sharks in one way or another most of my life,I personally have a great admiration/respect for sharks and feel that they are one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet....and misunderstood....Peace...Saildiver

 

[mike_s]

FYI. A special on the USS Indinapolis just started on this History Channel and what happened to the crew. On 9pm CST on Tuesday 4/26/05. FYI

 

[saildiver]

FYI. A special on the USS Indinapolis just started on this History Channel and what happened to the crew. On 9pm CST on Tuesday 4/26/05. FYI

Hey Mike-Just saw the special-didn't say much about the sharks-more about looking for the wreckage underwater-some history-not very complete as you can get alot more by reading on the subject. I did think it was interesting though to hear and see the survivers first hand accounts...I think its pretty clear they are still suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of being in the water with that many dying men and sharks for so long(5 days). And what a bum rap for the Admiral of the Indianapolis- who later got "court marshalled for being torpedoed by the Japanese sub"-even the Japanese commander who was asked to testify could not believe we would do that to one of our own....I think the Navy needed someone to blame for this horrible mess(our guys floating around out there for 5 days with the sharks and with no one picking them up in spite of recieving their SOS)-I really feel for him-he committed suicide in the 60's....though "better late than never" ,the Navy finally found him innocent of the charges they originally court marshalled him with a few years ago....Peace...Saildiver

 

[borninthesignofwater]

I saw a special on shark attacks that speculated on which sharks were responsible for so many deaths after the sinking of the Indianapolis. They took firsthand accounts from the survivors of the types of trauma they were seeing in the attack victims and compared it to bite patterns and attack patterns of various sharks. In a lot of cases, the wounds were compact and ragged indicating oceanic white tips. In others, the victim was nearly severed in half, indicating tiger sharks. They then created mechanical mockups of the diffeent species of shark with exact replicas of the teeth and jaws and weighing the same as the average specimen of the particular shark speicies and had it attack large cuts of beef. The results were spot on for those two particular species.

It was an interesting program watching metal sharks hack up large cuts of meat. You don't ever want to be approached by a determined tiger shark.

 

[saildiver]

I saw a special on shark attacks that speculated on which sharks were responsible for so many deaths after the sinking of the Indianapolis. They took firsthand accounts from the survivors of the types of trauma they were seeing in the attack victims and compared it to bite patterns and attack patterns of various sharks. In a lot of cases, the wounds were compact and ragged indicating oceanic white tips. In others, the victim was nearly severed in half, indicating tiger sharks. They then created mechanical mockups of the diffeent species of shark with exact replicas of the teeth and jaws and weighing the same as the average specimen of the particular shark speicies and had it attack large cuts of beef. The results were spot on for those two particular species.

It was an interesting program watching metal sharks hack up large cuts of meat. You don't ever want to be approached by a determined tiger shark.

Wish I could have seen it-of course they never had the bodies to actually compare-but you'll get no argument from me-both sharks are extremely aggressive compared to most sharks ,and the tiger has a huge powerful mouth for its size-second only to the great white.I have been approached by oceanic white-tips and tigers in the Pacific several times-each experience is highly etched in my memory-they provoke a sense of fear by their sheer fearlessness...Peace...Saildiver