Uss Indianapolis Sharks

Oceanic Whitetip Sharks at Night Without a Cage

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Jun 22, 2011) - Swimming pigs, flying boats and diving with Oceanic Whitetip Sharks at night without a cage. It's a jump into a world only a handful of people have seen. All Fins On Productions just completed a remote, 350 mile expedition, during which the crew performed the unthinkable: the first ever planned and filmed dive with multiple Oceanic Whitetip Sharks at night and without the protection of a shark cage.

The first views of the Oceanic Whitetip Sharks filmed in the Bahamas at night are now available here . "The work is riveting to watch and pays homage to an earlier generation of documentary storytellers. This is real adventure getting into the water at night with the shark Jacques Cousteau called the 'world's most dangerous,'" says veteran diver and the film's producer and co-director, Robert Cantrell .

In 1970, Peter Gimbel produced a groundbreaking documentary, "Blue Water, White Death," featuring the first dives outside of a shark cage with multiple Oceanic Whitetip Sharks during the day. Gimbel's team shot all of their nighttime sequences from within shark cages, a decision Gimbel is quoted as saying he regrets.

"It was a race against time to dive with these sharks at night and on their terms," said Robert Cantrell. "The Oceanic Whitetip is set to be the first of the great sharks driven to extinction. We had a feeling that if we did not take this opportunity, Gimbel's regret would have been forever left unanswered. These sharks will be gone."

Jim Abernethy , shark expert and award-winning wildlife photographer said, "The exceptional boldness of this species allowed it to dominate the tropical oceans for millions of years. Now that boldness makes them an easy target to kill." Oceanic Whitetip Sharks have appeared in the news recently when three sharks were baited and killed after they investigated an endurance swimmer in the Cayman Islands, and when one caused a stir by appearing off the coast of Cornwall in England.

"We are eager to get the truth out about the oceanics. Join us on Facebook to find out more about the shark and the expedition," says Emmy-award winning producer George C. Schellenger , the film's co-director from Status Productions.

The ocean voyage took the filmmakers to the eastern Bahamas, one of the last places in the world where people can reliably find Oceanic Whitetip Sharks. Throughout history, survivors of shipwrecks and air disasters have encountered this shark. Most famously this included the USS Indianapolis at the end of World War II where some deaths were attributed to this shark. While once prolific worldwide, this shark, often considered the most dangerous in the world, has been hunted to near extinction over the last decade.

johnocantrell3 - The U.S.S Indianapolis versus Sharks

The sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis was also as the largest recorded shark assault. This tragic even was revived in the motion picture: "Ocean of Fear". The promotion of this documentary portrayed these men's traumatic expertise in accordance to the survivors' insights by utilizing reasonable shark attack videoclips. World War 2 documentary Around 200 folks customers died because of to injuries that occurred during the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. The sharks had been primarily feeding on extremities somewhat than eating the bodies as a whole. The crew had to separate themselves from the useless and folks members that suffered from bleeding injuries in order to prevent turning out to be victims of shark attacks. In this case, the dead ended up saving a good deal of lives as they captivated the sharks' consideration on them rather of the survivors. On Day time 3, shark assaults nevertheless occurred as disillusioned crew users attacked other people, thirst encouraged some males to drink some saltwater, other people had been attempting to physically stop them from doing so. Some males were possessing hallucinations and left to get some ice cream and refreshing h2o on the sunken ship, by no means to return. The sun was hot and the h2o cold, getting guys endure from publicity On Day time 4, at about 4 PM, an airplane noticed them and dropped 1 raft and some survival gear before leaving them to get some help. On August four, 1945 in the wee hrs of the morning, the U.S. Navy arrived, rescuing the remaining 317 survivors. On September two, 1945 World War II officially ended, closing a tragic chapter of humans' historical past. The tragic event of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis has haunted the United States' history with the misplaced lives of a youthful folks which had an average age of 19 many years previous. Although sharks acquired a definite component in this traumatic expertise, they had been not the primary trigger of this tragedy, human error was the culprit. Let's never forget the victims! They deserve that a lot!

In harm's way, the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the extraordinary story of its survivors

The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis

Fatal voyage, the sinking of the USS Indianapolis

Congressional Record

Left for Dead