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Hey, I'm Mike Corey, the host of Against the odds, where we tell true stories of people overcoming the toughest conditions.

We've featured many tales where survivors came up against their physical and mental limits, and that was the case with the crew aboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis during World War II.

After the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, around 900 men were left floating in the

Philippine Sea. They were circled by sharks, and they attacked the stranded men for days.

In the aftermath, the horror of the attacks was imprinted on the public's imagination.

But now, as we close in on the 80th anniversary of the ship sinking, there's a growing call to reassess our collective fear of sharks.

Scientists point out that attacks are very rare and say sharks play a vital role in our ocean's ecosystem.

They're calling out an alarming overfishing trend that's left a third of shark species in danger of extinction.

As the anniversary approaches, we're re-erring this series, which originally aired in

2022.

This episode of Against the Odds contains depictions of violence.

Please be advised. It's the evening of July 29th, 1945, almost midnight in the middle of the Philippine Sea.

Fireman's second-class Adolfo Harpo Salaia walks across the main deck of the Navy cruiser,

U.S.S. Indianapolis, dragging a wool blanket behind him.

He's looking for a place to get some sleep in the open air before his 4 a.m. watch.

Below deck, the tropical heat of the Western Pacific Ocean has turned the

crew's sleeping quarters into saunice. Earlier, the full moon disappeared behind

heavy cloud cover, and it's now pitch black.

Next to Harpo, his crew chief Max Thorpe hears into the darkness.

Looks like everyone else had the same idea we did. Harpo looks around and

...