Left for Dead
Peter Nelson
Random House;Random House Children's Books;Delacorte Books for Young Readers
<p>Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS <i>Indianapolis</i> was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in 14 minutes. More than 1,000 men were thrown into shark-infested waters. Those who survived the fiery sinking--some injured, many without life jackets--struggled to stay afloat in shark-infested waters as they waited for rescue. But the United States Navy did not even know they were missing. The Navy needed a scapegoat for this disaster. So it court-martialed the captain for "hazarding" his ship. The survivors of the <i>Indianapolis</i> knew that their captain was not to blame. For 50 years they worked to clear his name, even after his untimely death. But the navy would not budge--until an 11-year-old boy named Hunter Scott entered the picture. His history fair project on the <i>Indianapolis</i> soon became a crusade to restore the captain's good name and the honor of the men who served under him.<br><br><i>From the Trade Paperback edition.</i>