The Ocean by d_browne

the ocean

This magazine was designed by Daniel Browne using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. The text was borrowed from multiple sources and three different typefaces are used. DIN Alternate was used for the body text, Impact was used for the magazine title, article titles, running header, table of contents, page numbers, and Amatic SC was used as the chapter descriptions within the table of contents. Special thanks to authors Seth Paridon, Kenneth Pletcher, Amy Tikkanen, and Ravi Ubha for providing the text.

The Ocean

About The Ocean The Ocean takes an unconventioanl approach toward the giant mass of water that covers 70 percent of our planet and might change the way you perceive it. It contains stories from history that depict the ocean in a very unforgiving way. While not intended to discourage you from venturing out into the ocean or going to the beach, it will hopefully give you a renewed respect for its manificence.

A deep sea earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear disaster.

A submarine. A sinking ship. And sharks.

Two sharks, one surfer.

A whaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenge

CONTENTS

TABLE OF

The Ocean

2011. TOHOKU, JAPAN.

he Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake, was a severe natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The event began with a powerful earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, which caused widespread damage on land and initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of the country, most notably in the Tōhoku region (northeastern Honshu). The tsunami also instigated a major nuclear accident at a power station along the coast. In the years following the accident, numerous leaks at the facility occurred at the site where contaminated reactor cooling water was stored. A significant leak occurred in August 2013 that was severe enough to prompt Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority to classify it as a level-3 nuclear incident.

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DOUBLE SHARK ATTACK

ackpacking bicyclist Sean Smith was enjoying a quiet day at a South African beach, half a world away from his native British Columbia, when he spotted something that will help

extend his travels for some time. He captured on videotape a teenage surfer being attacked by a four-metre-long great white shark -- rare footage that may be the first of an attack on a surfer by one of the world’s most ferocious killers. “I didn’t register it when it first happened. I thought it was just two surfers colliding,” Mr. Smith, 26, said in a telephone interview yesterday from East London, South Africa, where Monday’s attack occurred. His tape also shows a second shark lining up to attack 15-year-old Shannon Ainslie, a surfer from East London. The youth escaped with a severely injured right hand, almost losing a finger, which hung by just a thread. Shannon was surfing with his brother and friends when he came face to face with the beast. He was just catching a wave when the shark “came up and made a grab for me.” The next thing he knew, he was under water, facing the fearsome fish. “I knew it was a shark, but at the same time, I thought it was just a dream,” he said in an interview from his home after being released from hospital yesterday. “Even when I saw my hand, I was just numb. I’m just lucky it didn’t get my legs.” Mr. Smith’s tape is brief but stunning, according to those who viewed it. In seconds, Shannon is thrown from his board as the shark attacks from the left. A dorsal fin can be seen towering over the wave as the shark’s jaws clamp the back of the board and drag it under the water. A second shark is clearly silhouetted against a

breaking wave moving in from the right toward the surfboard, but it drops away at the last moment. “[The tape’s]scientific value is enormous,” said Willie Maritz, chief of marine services in East London. “There’s absolutely no doubt it was a great white -- you could actually see it grab the surfboard.” He said he was “very, very surprised” by the presence of the second shark. “It is very unusual for great whites to hunt in pairs.” He said sharks often attack surfboards, mistaking them for seals, sea turtles or large fish. Mr. Smith had gone to the beach with a video camera borrowed from a friend, intending to tape local surfers hitting the waves. Initially, he didn’t realize what he was filming. “It wasn’t until I noticed all the surfers paddling to shore that I realized something was up. But I still didn’t think it was a shark attack,” he said, calling the experience “very surreal.” Mr. Smith, who had his own encounter with great whites about a month ago when he watched them from the confines of a protective cage, sold his videotape to Reuters Television. He was paid “in the thousands of U.S. dollars” and will split the money with the camera owner. Mr. Smith, who began travelling the world last October in Asia, plans to continue his bike tour of the African continent. The money from the sale of the tape will pay for the rest of his trip -- as well as a new surfboard and wet suit for Shannon. “I’m ecstatic that Shannon is okay and I’m also ecstatic that I have some funds to carry out the rest of my travels,” said Mr. Smith, who expects to return to Canada by the fall. Despite his terrifying encounter, Shannon plans to hit the water again “in the same area, but not in the same place.” The main populations of great whites are found off the coasts of South Africa, Australia and California. The sharks, which can grow to lengths of seven metres or more and weigh up to four tonnes, generally feed on seals and smaller fish. Humans are seldom a part of their diet. There have been three fatalities over the past five years from shark attacks in the East London area. July is considered the most dangerous month for surfing in the area, because great whites and other sharks follow migrating schools of sardines north before returning to the seal colonies off the Cape.

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1945. USS INDIANAPOLIS

native of Massachusetts, Harlan Twible was a fresh graduate of the US Naval Academy when he was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) in late June

1945. He had wanted to be assigned to a newer, more glamorous ship, desiring to be either a naval aviator or a submariner. Like any young, confident Academy graduate, Twible wanted to carve a place for himself in history, and he assumed that a cruiser like the Indianapolis, affectionately known as the “Indy” to her crew, would not be that ship. Fate would prove him wrong on that assumption. On July 26, 1945, Twible and “Indy” were sitting dockside on the island of Tinian. Twible, serving as officer of the deck that day, looked out across the pier and noticed an abnormally large contingent of “brass”— high ranking military officers—clustered in large groups on the pier. What Twible did not know at the time was that his ship had transported vital parts for the world’s first nuclear weapon to be used in warfare to scientists on Tinian. The ship’s mission was top secret, so the officers and men alike had no idea of their cargo’s importance or why there were so many high-ranking officers watching the crew unload its vital cargo. “There were admirals . . . everything that was of importance on the island of Tinian was there to greet what we later found out was the bomb,” he said. Following the delivery of her cargo, the “Indy” was sent to Guam and ordered to join with other surface forces in the area of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, for further training before the invasion of Japan. On July 29, 1945, “Indy” was sailing toward her rendezvous with the fleet at a speed of 17 knots, unescorted and alone. At 0015 on July 30, the heavy cruiser was struck by two Japanese torpedoes fired from the submarine I-58. The first

The Ocean torpedo blew the bow off of the ship while the second struck nearly amidships near the powder magazine. The resulting explosion literally split the ship to the keel, knocking out all power and causing her to sink by the bow rapidly. Aboard the stricken vessel, young Ensign Twible looked around to find no officers taking charge of the chaotic situation. “We knew we were in trouble,” he said. “So I took command and I told them to hang on to anything they could hang on to. . . . Then when the tilt became too great . . . I gave the order to abandon ship. Nobody abandoned, then I yelled, ‘Follow me!’ And the bodies came in so fast it was unbelievable.” Twible jumped into the sea and immediately swam away from the ship. Indianapolis went down in a mere 12 minutes, bringing nearly 300 of her crew down with her. As she disappeared beneath the waves, 900 of the ship’s crew

survivors who had floated away from the larger groups, so Twible organized “shark watches” to keep the men together and fend off the sharks when they came in. The sharks usually stayed away from the larger groups, which would beat and kick the sharks, normally forcing them away. Still, the predators took their toll on the survivors on Twible’s group. Twible insisted on cutting the dead men off of floating wreckage they had tied themselves to, then pushing the dead out to sea so that those who remained would not have a constant visual example of their potential fate. After four days and five nights, the survivors were finally sighted by a US Navy aircraft on routine patrol. The pilot radioed the report of “many men in the water,” which alerted a PBY flying boat that in turn alerted a nearby destroyer, the USS Cecil Doyle (DD-368). Rescuing sailors through the night, the PBY and the

floated in the Pacific Ocean, their location and fate unknown to the US Navy. Following the ship’s sinking, the next task at hand for Twible and his shipmates was survival on the open sea. Many of the crew, including Twible, had been wounded during the torpedo explosions, some grievously. “Everybody was scared to death,” he said. “These were all 18- and 19-year-old kids.” Despite their young age, the men were somewhat calm after they were put into the water. “There wasn’t any fighting, any turmoil.” he said. “But everybody was scared.” Many of the crew formed into groups for mutual protection as the night wore on. As the sun rose, Twible conducted a head count and realized that he was the only officer in charge of 325 survivors. As day one wore on to day four, many of the men began to lose faith that they would ever be rescued. “We tried to keep the men thinking that they would be saved, but there was no way in God’s green earth that I knew we were gonna be saved,” he said. “My fear was really for the men, not for myself. My biggest concern was that the people we could save, we saved them.” Desperation and fear grew among the men floating in the shark-infested waters. The common image of the story of the Indianapolis is that of hundreds of men being ravaged by sharks for days on end. While there were many shark attacks, the exact figure for death by shark attack among the survivors is unknown; there were many survivors who never even saw a shark. Twible and his group, however, were not among those fortunate men. The sharks grabbed some of the

destroyer were the answer to the survivor’s prayers. Of the 900 men who went into the water, only 316 survived to be rescued. The Indianapolis disaster remains one of the worst—and most controversial—tragedies in US Navy history. Harlan Twible stayed in the Navy following World War II, serving through the Korean War, eventually retiring in 1958 due to health issues sustained during his time floating in the Pacific Ocean. He entered the business world and became successful, retiring at age 54 and moving to Florida with his wife. Like many combat veterans, Harlan Twible never talked about the disaster in the years immediately following the war. He tried his best to forget what had happened, and didn’t discuss the sinking and his time adrift at sea, not even with his wife. Initially, the horrible experience was too much for Twible to share, but his thoughts eventually changed. He feels that talking about the disaster helps people remember it and honors those who never made it out of the sea. Reflecting on his decision to order the crew to abandon ship, he said, “What decision could I ever make that was anywhere near as important (as) the decision to tell those men to throw their lives into the water? That was one of the biggest decisions I ever made. I was gambling everybody’s life that we were gonna win.”

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THE REAL MOBY DICK

n August 12, 1819, the Essex set sail on its fateful last journey, heading from Nantucket to the South Pacific Ocean. There were 21 men on board—including the first-time captain,

George Pollard, Jr.—and the trip was expected to last up to three years. On August 14, however, the voyage nearly ended when the ship was briefly knocked onto its side by a squall and almost sunk. With the Essex damaged and missing two whaleboats, Pollard initially opted to return to Nantucket. However, First Mate Owen Chase—possibly worried that the men, believing the knockdown was a bad omen, might desert—convinced him to continue. Since departing Nantucket, the crew had been searching for sperm whales. However, it was not until some two months into the voyage, when the Essex was south of Rio de Janeiro, that the first whale was sighted. Shortly thereafter, the men killed their first quarry. In January 1820 the Essex rounded Cape Horn, southern Chile, and entered the South Pacific. The hunting continued to prove largely disappointing until the ship reached the waters off Peru, where it took more than 10 whales. In about late May, Pollard decided to head farther from the coast, into a distant area that had recently proved highly profitable for whalers. In preparation, the Essex stopped at Atacames, Ecuador, in September 1820, and while there one of the crewmen deserted. Although shorthanded, the ship sailed on, stopping at Hood Island, Galapagos, where they fixed a leak on the Essex and caught nearly 200 tortoises. In late October 1820 they reached Charles Island and collected more tortoises before one of the crew members started a fire that soon spread throughout the small island, causing the men to flee. The Essex resumed its journey, and on November

20, 1820, it was more than 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) from the Galapagos. That day whales were spotted, and three whaleboats were launched. The vessel commanded by Chase was damaged, however, and was forced to return to the Essex. While repairs were being made, a huge male sperm whale was spotted close to the ship. It was estimated to be 85 feet (26 metres) long; a typical male sperm whale was no bigger than 65 feet (20 metres). Later attempting to explain the normally timid creature’s unusual behaviour, some have speculated that the hammering on the whaleboat sounded similar to the clicks made by whales to communicate. Under this theory, the agitated animal believed that the boat was actually another male that had entered his territory. Whatever its reason, the whale began speeding toward the Essex, ramming the port (left) side. After passing under the ship, the animal resurfaced and appeared stunned. However, it resumed its attack “with tenfold fury and vengeance,” striking the bow and causing catastrophic damage before disappearing. The other whaleboats returned to find that the Essex had capsized. Realizing that the ship was doomed, Pollard believed they should head for either the Marquesas or Society islands, more than 1,200 miles (2,200 km) or 2,000 miles (3,700 km) away, respectively. Not only were they the closest land, the crew would be sailing with the wind. However, Chase and Second Mate Matthew Joy believed that they would likely encounter cannibals. Instead, they argued for Peru or Chile, even though much of the course—which measured more than 4,000 miles (7,400 km)—would be against both the wind and strong currents. Pollard ultimately relented, and on November 22 the men left the barely afloat Essex. The three whaleboats, which had been outfitted with makeshift sails and given two months of provisions, were each commanded by one of the officers: Pollard, Chase, and Joy. The journey soon turned perilous as the provisions dwindled, the men began to suffer from dehydration, and the boats encountered bad weather and were in constant need of repair; in late November Pollard’s boat was damaged by a marine animal, possibly a killer whale. On December 20, after having traveled some 1,500 miles (2,800 km), they arrived at what they thought was Ducie Island (it was actually nearby Henderson), one of the Pitcairn Islands. However, although they found freshwater, there was little food. Realizing they

The Ocean

would need to continue sailing, the crew returned to their navigation charts and determined that while Chile was 3,000 miles (5,600 km) away, Easter Island was less than 1,000 miles (1,900 km). Even though the island was unknown to them, the desperate men set a course for it, and on December 27 they left Henderson, though three sailors decided to remain behind. On January 10, 1821, Joy became the first sailor to die, and he was buried at sea; his boat then fell under the command of Obed Hendricks. The next day a storm caused Chase’s boat to separate from the others, and one of its crew members passed away on January 20. Some three weeks later, another sailor in that boat died, and the decision was made to cannibalize his body. On February 18, the remaining three sailors in Chase’s boat spotted a distant ship, the British brig Indian, and managed to sail to it, ending their 89-day ordeal. The other whaleboats fared worse. On January 20–27, three men died on Hendricks’s boat and were eaten. On January 28 Pollard lost his first man, who was cannibalized. The two vessels were then separated the following day, and the boat carrying Hendricks and two others—none of whom had navigational equipment— was never seen again; a whaleboat with three skeletons was later found on Ducie Island, though it was never determined if they were from the Essex. Facing near death, the men on Pollard’s boat decided to draw lots to see who would be killed and eaten. Pollard’s cousin Owen Coffin pulled the shortest straw. Although Pollard offered to take his place, the teenager refused. He was shot on February 6. Five days later another crew member died, and he was also cannibalized. The two remaining men were rescued by the Dauphin, an American whaling ship, on February 23. All those rescued at sea were taken to Valparaíso, Chile, where they were reunited. After being told of the men on Ducie, the Australian ship Surry was dispatched to the island. Upon finding no one there, the Surry headed to Henderson Island, and on April 9, 1821, it rescued the remaining survivors. After returning to Nantucket, Chase wrote Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex (1821; republished under various titles). In addition, Thomas Nickerson, a cabin boy on the Essex, later wrote his account of the sinking and rescue, but the notebook was lost and not published until 1984. Chase’s work inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). Other books and later films were also based on the doomed whaleship.

The Ocean