There is no shortage of information about the USS Indianapolis and the ordeals endured by its crew.

As similar as the stories are, each is individually compelling.

Here are some links:

A website about the ship, devoted in part to clearing the name of the captain of the Indianapolis, has a wealth of information, including one of many chilling accounts from a survivor.

An excerpt from the Congressional Record of July 14, 2000 concerning the crew, the Navy pilot who found them, and the exonerated captain.

The account of a survivor from Pennsylvania, on the 60th anniversary of the sinking.

Although it's littered with ads in the middle of text, this site has an abridged version of a speech by the piliot of the seaplane who landed on the water and rescued the first of the survivors. Here's an excerpt in which he talks about the first Navy pilot, on anti-submarine patrol, who saw the men by complete accident. A man's head is about six inches wide and nine inches tall. If a pilot is flying a search mission, such as Wilbur Gwinn was flying at ten thousand feet, looking down at an angle of 30 degrees, what will he see? He will be looking down an angle at the water about four miles ahead. The span of his vision will be about five miles. He will see 20 square miles. How apparent will be the head of this man floating in the water? It will be about the diameter of the cross section of a human hair seen endwise. It will be lost among the countless waves and whitecaps of the ocean. He simply won't be seen.

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