‘Wreck of ‘Jaws ship’ Indianapolis found

From left: Jaws stars Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss THE wreck of a famous World War Two cruiser referenced in the film Jaws has been discovered 18,000 feet below the waves.

USS Indianapolis was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1945 – leading to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the US Navy.

While around 800 of the ship’s 1196-strong crew survived the sinking, shark attacks, dehydration, and exposure meant only 316 made it back to dry land. Their bloodcurdling ordeal is related by Quint the shark-hunter in Spielberg’s 1975 big-screen classic.

USS Indianapolis’s wreck was found by a team of civilian researchers led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, at a depth greater than the Titanic’s remains in the North Pacific. ROBERT SHAW became a movie legend for his role as shark-hunter Quint. One of his biggest scenes is when he describes the sinking of the Indianapolis... FIRST light... sharks cruisin’ by, so we formed tight groups sorta like the infantry squares at Waterloo. The idea was the shark come to the nearest man, he starts poundin’ and hollerin’ and sometimes that shark he go away… but sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. And the thing about a shark is he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn’t even seem to be livin’… til he bites, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The ocean turns red. 1100 men went into the water. 316 come out. Sharks took the rest.”

■