Escape From the Deep by Alex Kershaw Read Free Book Online Page B

Chief Quartermaster Sidney Jones, his best friend aboard the Tang, and Gunner’s Mate Darrell Rector from Kansas. 23 They were shouting to one another.
    Leibold could feel himself being pulled away by the current. The voices grew fainter.
    “Let’s stay together,” Leibold called out. 24
    There was no reply. Neither Jones nor Rector would ever be heard from again.
    Leibold could not see anybody else in the water. He felt utterly alone. Then he noticed that the bow of the Tang was out of the water. As he swam toward it, he felt the sea push him back. It was soon clear that he would not make the bow because the current was too powerful. Then he saw the officer of the deck, Lieutenant John Heubeck, who had won swimming awards that he had pinned up in the Tang ’s ward room. Heubeck was swimming the crawl expertly, and passed close by, headed for the bow. Then he was gone.
    Leibold treaded water and tried to stay afloat, aware that he must conserve his energy. He knew he would have to get rid of anything that could weigh him down. So he threw away his binoculars, then his woolen jacket and shoes.
    Leibold decided to keep his pants—they might save his life. He stripped them off, tied the legs, and tried to inflate them to make a life preserver. But no matter how he tied them, he couldn’t manage to fill them with air.
    Leibold had used up valuable energy trying to inflate the pants’ legs. In frustration, he discarded them. He was left wearing nonregulation undershorts, with blue-and-white stripes, fastened by old-fashioned “ripper-snappers,” and a thin dungaree shirt.
    Leibold heard explosions. The Japanese were dropping depth charges somewhere not too far away. The Type 2 Model Z charges weighed around 350 pounds and had an explosive charge of around 230 pounds. 25 Leibold could feel the shock waves from the blasts. He couldn’t see the boat that was dropping the charges though. It was pitch black. The depth-charging was intermittent: There were two or three explosions and then he would feel a small wave.
    The Japanese eventually passed by and, once more, there was what seemed like dead silence. 26
     
     
     
     
    OUT OF LEIBOLD’S SIGHT and hearing, Floyd Caverly still struggled desperately to stay afloat. Suddenly, he spotted Lieutenant John Heubeck, who was still swimming confidently in a steady crawl. Caverly remembered that Heubeck was an award-winning swimmer at the Naval Academy. If any man could swim to safety, it was Heubeck.
    “Is that you, Mr. Heubeck?” called Caverly.
    Heubeck stopped swimming.
    “Yes,” said Heubeck. “Which way is land?” 27
    “About 180 feet straight down.” 28
    Caverly was not certain in which direction land was. All he knew was that the China coast had been about ten miles to the west when the Tang had gone down. Since then he had been swimming in circles, carried by the current. It was dark. He was now completely disoriented. 29
    “Who are you?” Heubeck gasped.
    “Caverly, sir.”
    “Which way is China?”
    Caverly said he thought China was about ten miles to the west.
    Heubeck set out for China. He was never seen again.
    Caverly struggled once more to stay afloat. He had plenty of time for reflection, to think back on his adolescence, to the days before the war when one of his uncles in Minnesota had advised him to join the navy if hostilities broke out. At least in the navy, his uncle said, he would have a good meal every day. He wouldn’t be stuck in a foxhole trying to keep his feet dry, eating C rations. And if he ever ended up in the water, his uncle added, he would only have to look out for himself. 30
    Stay afloat as long as you can, Caverly told himself.
    There was no knowing how long he would have to wait until, perhaps, a Japanese boat picked up survivors . . . or until sharks attacked. One thing seemed certain: A long, dark night was ahead.
     
     
     
    MEANWHILE, NOT FAR AWAY, O’Kane was also struggling to stay alive, also buoyed by thoughts of his