Ordeal by Sea does not feature great writing -- the character portrayals are weak, the suspense is almost non-existent, the narrative rambles. What this book does have in its favor is that it was written twenty years after the sinking of the Indianapolis, while the event was still relatively sharp in the public's mind, and in the survivors' minds as well.

As I've mentioned, the dramatic aspects of this book are weak. These guys were in the Pacific five days with sharks pulling them under the water, and Helms makes it seem almost like a swim meet. Helm was not a great writer, but he does tell this horrifying story reasonably well: the Indianapolis delivers materials for one of the bombs to fall on Japan in the summer of 1945, the ship is sunk by a rogue Japanese sub, the survivors float for five days in shark-infested waters, some injured in the sinking, their bones pushing through flesh, the unfair court-martialing of McVay, the ship's captain. This is one of the best stories of surviving the worst conditions out there.

One caveat: The publisher does not present this as a classic, as an older book brought out again. You find that out in the new introduction. I thought that this was a brand new book when I purchased it. That dings the book's rating.

Truly a remarkable story, however.

I've read several books about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, and I would rate Ordeal By Sea as only average. Mr. Helm does a good job of explaining the sinking itself, and the story of the survivors in the water is well-done, but some aspects are either complelely left out, or they are barely mentioned. These events, such as McVay's request and subsequent denial of a destroyer escort, failure to alert McVay about the recent sinking of an American destroyer along his proposed route, the ignoring by the navy of an intercepted message from the I-58 stating that she had sunk an American battleship, and the huge mess up regarding the departure and arrival of the Indianapolis are barely touched upon. Also, Mr. Helm devotes only a few pages of text to McVay's court martial procedure. While the book does a good job of telling about the sinking, abandoning, and struggle of the survivors, I was disappointed about the omission of the vital events leading up to the sinking. However, the author of the afterword, William J. Toti, does a good job of bringing the reader up to speed on the recent efforts by the survivors to get McVay's name cleared. I would recommend "In Harm's Way" by Doug Stanton over this book.

Helm does a good job discribing the sinking of this heavy cruiser
and the five days the survivors spent in the water facing the
hazards of sharks, sun, no food or water, and the negative effects on the crew. With the new forward and summary by the
skipper of the sub Indianapolis, their research and wording was
quick and to the point. The skipper of the cruiser may have
warranted a court martial, but was it fair--probably not. The court martial was more a bow to public pressure and focused on how the Navy was itself to blame for the sinking since no escort
was sent to protect the ship, and nobody noticed the ship missing
at Leyte. Better to throw someone to the dogs, than let the Navy assume blame for the 800 odd deaths at sea.