Never Give Up: A Lesson from a USS Indianapolis Survivor
Robert Cantrell |
TEDxAshburnSalon
• September 2017
As a Producer/Director that chronicled many adventures in life from really swimming and filming the most dangerous Shark in the world at night without a cage, to chronicling books by suiting up in armor in Games of Thrones in war like battles, to working side by side with top scientist (e.g., Paleontologist, Oceanographers) and Military in the world, Robert shares one of his most insightful moments and one of most tragic maritime disasters in US naval history. He will share a lesson he learned from a survivor of the USS Indianapolis. As highlighted in the legendary shark movie and novel, Jaws, Robert was honored to interview survivors from the USS Indianapolis which was recently discovered by a team of civilian researchers led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. After more than 72 years, this past month, the wreckage was located on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, 18,000 feet below the surface. The story - At 12:14 a.m. on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder—about 900 men—were left adrift in waters populated by tiger sharks and oceanic whitetips. Most had no food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later, perhaps 400 still live. 317 survived.
The survivors talk about never giving up. But what does it mean to never give up? What does perseverance offer, and what are the limits?