THE DEVIL'S VOYAGE
(K Tomlinson 2006)

The cruiser Indianapolis left San Francisco Bay,
With the Little Boy on board, to the west she sailed away,
Headed for the Philippines, as the 'Japs' already knew,
Bad luck for Captain McVeigh and for his 1200 crew.

Out from Hiroshima, Pearl of the Inland Sea,
Slipped submarine I-58 of the Japanese Navy,
Commander Hashimoto had orders short and clear,
Sink the cruiser. Stop the Little Boy from coming here.

The sub, it lay in ambush across the cruiser's course,
And every day they waited the tension it grew worse,
Until after 14 long & weary days and nights,
The cruiser Indianapolis steamed straight into their sights.

Indianapolis died quickly, with her went 300 crew,
Dragged down with her forever in the deep Pacific blue,
900 more went overboard, clinging to rafts and floats.
There'd been no time for SOS, no time to launch the boats,

All on an empty ocean and beneath an empty sky,
The men left in the water struggled to survive
Some died of wounds, some died from thirst, the sharks killed many fast,
Two-thirds of them had died when rescue came at last.

The sinking was small victory, for just two days before,
The cruiser'd docked at Tinian, put Little Boy on shore,
They'd flown him to Hiroshima and set his fury free,
And the light of a thousand suns destroyed the Pearl of the Inland Sea.

Tune – Rounding of the Horn

In August 2017 it was announced that the wreck of the Indianapolis
had been found, three miles down in the Pacific. It prompted my memory for this song that I wrote after reading the book of the same name by
Jack L Chalker. Reading the book was prompted by a bit of dialogue by
Robert Shaw's character in the film JAWS. See also the song 'Captain Mcvay's Lament' already on Mudcat
KT