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Dr. Lewis Haines thrashes his arms against the surface of the ocean. He's been treading water for almost 48 hours and his muscles burn fatigue.

But right now, he needs to turn up as much water as he can. Far on the distance, he can see an American bomber plane approaching.

Maybe, just maybe, the pilot will see his splashing and rescue him from this hell.

It's the early evening of July 31st, 1945. Two days since the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was sunk by Japanese torpedoes.

Now, Haines floats in the open ocean with a group of a few hundred survivors. They don't have a single life raft.

No drinking water, no food, and many of the men were burned and wounded in the torpedo attack.

As the ship's doctor, Haines has done his best to tend to them. But despite his efforts, over a quarter of the original survivors have died.

Some from their injuries, some from exhaustion and dehydration, and some from shark attacks.

The bomber passes behind some clouds and disappears. The hum of his engines fades to silence. It's gone.

Haines stops splashing and leans his head back against the rough fabric of his life jacket, trying not to feel hopeless.

The bomber was just one of many that have flown by since they were stranded. But Haines knows that unless a plane is actually looking for them, it's unlikely they'll be spotted.

His thoughts are interrupted by a strange sound. Is that someone laughing?

He turns to see a young sailor bobbing in the ocean about 50 feet away. His body shakes with laughter as he cups his hands to gather seawater.

His trembling hands bring the water to his lips. And he drinks. Haines swims towards him as fast as he can.

Stop! Don't! Don't do that!

He slaps the sailor's arm, just stopping him taking another drink. You can't drink salt water. It'll kill you. I'm thirsty.

The sailor ignores Haines and cups his hands together again, shabbling more seawater to his cracked lips. Haines slaps the man's hands again. I know it's hard, but you have to stop!

The sailor stares back at him, glassy-eyed, then opens his mouth and ducks his head underwater. Haines knows that by drinking seawater, the sailor is slowly killing himself.

The high salt content will cause his blood vessels to rupture and his kidneys to fail. Eventually, he'll die in agonizing death.

But the salty water is also making the young sailor delirious with thirst. Haines can think of only one way to snap him out of it.

He grabs his sailor's head and pulls his face out of the water. I said, don't! Then punches him squarely in the jaw. The sailor looks at Haines, shocked. But his eyes are clear, and he stops trying to drink the water.

...