The Young Man Who Survived the Sea… and What He Teaches Us About Surviving America’s Authoritarian Storm
If a 17-Year-Old Marine Endured Fire, Sharks, and Five Days Alone in the Dark… We Can Endure...and Defeat...the Fascist Tide Rising in Our Own Country.
*Edgar Harrel
The Young Man Who Survived the Sea… and What He Teaches Us About Surviving America’s Authoritarian Storm
If a 17-Year-Old Marine Endured Fire, Sharks, and Five Days Alone in the Dark… We Can Endure...and Defeat...the Fascist Tide Rising in Our Own Country
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #636: Saturday, November 8th, 2025.
The Man Who Refused to Die…And What He Teaches Us About Facing Down Fascism.
There’s a story I want to tell you.
A true one.
A story I keep tucked in my back pocket for the days when the news is so bleak…the politics so corrupt…the people in power so openly authoritarian…that even I feel my confidence wobble.
It’s the story of a skinny 17-year-old kid from Kentucky named Edgar Harrell.
A Marine.
A Bible-belt farm boy.
A quiet kid…with a polite voice and a grin so young…he barely looked old enough to shave.
And on July 30th, 1945, he found himself standing on the deck…of the USS Indianapolis…moments away from living through…one of the worst naval disasters in American history.
THE END CAME IN 12 MINUTES
It was 12:14 a.m.
Dark. Moonless. The kind of dark that makes you feel like you’re floating in ink.
The Indianapolis had just delivered the parts for Little Boy…the atomic bomb that would help end World War II.
They were heading across the Philippine Sea when two Japanese torpedoes…slammed into the starboard side.
Torpedo one: ripped open the bow.
Torpedo two: hit the fuel tanks.
The ship went up like a funeral pyre.
Within 12 minutes…the USS Indianapolis…610 feet of American steel…was gone.
Harrell never even made it to a lifeboat.
He jumped into the fire-lit water….wearing nothing but a kapok life jacket…and the will…to live.
He hit the sea just as the ship’s boilers exploded behind him.
Oil. Fire. Darkness. Screams.
And then silence…the kind of silence that tells you you are alone…in a way the human mind was never built to understand.
That Was The Easy Part
Think about that for a moment.
A warship explodes under you. You jump into a flaming ocean. You watch hundreds of your brothers disappear beneath the waves.
Your ship never even gets off an SOS.
But that wasn’t the hard part.
The hard part came next.
For the next four days and five nights…Edgar Harrell floated in the open ocean with no food…no water…and no sign the U.S. Navy…even knew they were missing.
He and roughly 900 sailors went into the water.
Only 316 came out alive.
The reason?
Sharks.
Hundreds of them.
Oceanic white tips…aggressive…opportunistic…and fearless.
They circled the men.
They bumped their legs.
They dragged screaming boys below the surface.
Harrell later said:
“The sharks were all around. When the moon was bright, you could see them. When it was dark…you felt them.”
Imagine that.
You’re 17 years old.
You’re floating in oil-slicked water.
Your lips are cracked open from swallowing salt.
Your skin is peeling from the sun.
Your body is shutting down from dehydration.
And every ten minutes…you hear a scream and the splash…of a man being taken.
And yet…
Harrell refused to surrender to despair.
He kept talking to the men around him.
He kept telling them to hold on.
He kept pointing to the horizon…and saying rescue was coming.
Nobody believed him.
But he believed enough for all of them.
Because that’s what leadership looks…like when hell opens its mouth.
Day Four: The Moment That Should Have Killed Him
On the fourth day…delirious…sun-burned…barely conscious…Harrell saw something on the horizon.
A plane.
A U.S. Navy bomber out on routine patrol.
It wasn’t looking for survivors.
But the pilot…Lieutenant Wilbur Gwinn…spotted an oil slick.
He circled back.
He wasn’t sure if it meant Japanese subs…
…or Americans dying.
He came lower.
Then lower still.
And finally…
He saw them.
Hundreds of men…half-dead…waving arms…too dehydrated to lift.
That moment…the moment the pilot dipped his wings…is the moment Edgar Harrell said he knew he was going to live.
Hours later…the USS Cecil J. Doyle arrived.
Flood lights blazing.
Breaking every rule of wartime darkness.
Why?
Because the captain knew what waited beneath the waves.
He was shining his ship’s lights into the night to let the survivors know:
“You’re not alone anymore.”
Harrell was pulled from the water after nearly 5 days.
He weighed 80 pounds.
He had chemical burns…shark bites…and dehydration…so severe…doctors said he should’ve died.
But he didn’t.
Because…he wouldn’t.
The Real Reason I’m Telling You This
This isn’t a war story.
It’s a reminder.
A message for right now.
Because every single day…you and I watch authoritarianism…tighten its grip on this country.
We watch judges surrender to political pressure.
We watch leaders use power like a weapon instead of a responsibility.
We watch democracy get chipped away by people who would rather rule than serve.
We watch truth drowned by propaganda…rage…and fear.
And some days…
It feels like we’re the ones floating in the dark.
But let me be blunt:
You’re not floating in shark-infested waters.
You’re not dehydrated…half-dead…and forgotten.
You’re not a 17-year-old kid…watching his shipmates…disappear into the black.
No.
You’re standing on dry land.
You have a voice.
You have a vote.
You have a mind that sees what’s happening.
You have allies.
You have resources.
You have a community.
You have the power of truth on your side.
The fascists would kill for your position.
So don’t tell me you’re overwhelmed.
Don’t tell me you’re tired.
Don’t tell me you can’t do this.
Edgar Harrell survived that.
He didn’t quit.
And neither…can we.
The Only Question Left
Not:
“Can we save this country?”
We can.
Not:
“Is it too late?”
It isn’t.
The only real question is:
Do you have more fight in you than a half-dead teenager…floating in the Philippine Sea?
Because he held on.
He refused to give up.
He lived.
And because he lived…
We get to choose whether we will rise to our moment…
or shrink from it.
I know what I choose.
And I know what you’re capable of.
You’ve got breath in your lungs.
You’ve got democracy on the line.
You’ve got a cause worth fighting for.
And compared to what Edgar Harrell faced…
You’ve got it made.
Now let’s get to work.
BONUS: The “Indianapolis Mindset”
7-Step Survival Code for Facing Down Authoritarianism
1. Hold the Line When It’s Darkest.
Harrell survived because he refused to let darkness define the outcome.
Same for us. Authoritarians win when people give up.
2. Anchor Yourself to Something Bigger.
He stayed alive…by telling himself rescue would come.
Your anchor: Democracy is worth the fight…and we’re not alone.
3. Fear Is Normal. Surrender Is Optional.
The men who survived weren’t the ones who felt no fear…
…but the ones who acted anyway.
4. Stay With Your Group.
Survivors clung together. Lone swimmers didn’t make it.
Same here: We win by linking arms…not going solo.
5. Stop Wasting Energy on What You Can’t Control.
Harrell couldn’t change the sharks.
But he could conserve strength…stay calm…stay afloat.
Our version: Focus on what matters…organizing…voting…pressuring…preparing.
6. Look for the Wing-Dip.
He survived…because he noticed the tiniest sign of rescue.
We must spot the signs of hope in our moment…and act fast.
7. Remember: Someone Has to Make It Until Dawn.
Harrell outlasted the night.
We must outlast this political nightmare.
If he made it…we can too.
Lastly
You’ve now read the story of a young man who spent nearly five days in a black ocean surrounded by sharks…fire…dehydration…hallucinations…and death.
And he didn’t break.
He didn’t surrender.
He didn’t say, “It’s too much.”
He didn’t say, “I can’t.”
He held the line until help arrived…even when he had no logical reason to believe it ever would.
That’s what this moment in America demands of us.
Not perfection.
Not fearlessness.
Not superhuman strength.
Just the same thing Edgar Harrell had:
A refusal to go under.
A refusal to quit.
A refusal to let darkness decide the future.
If he could survive that…
We can survive this.
And now…
now that you’ve seen what real endurance looks like…
I’m going to take you one layer deeper.
Because in the paid edition I’m releasing next:
I’ll walk you through the exact psychological tactics…authoritarian movements use to make people give up…
…the early warning signs that the general public never notices until it’s too late…
…the “mental posture” that researchers say makes ordinary citizens function like elite operators under political stress…
…and a counter-strategy drawn straight from special operations…civil resistance research…and hard history…that can keep you clear-headed and unbreakable no matter what the next months bring.
If today’s story gave you the fire…
The paid edition will give you the armor.
It’s coming next.
Don’t miss it.
Back soon,
-Jack
I do remember hearing about that brave sailor. Fortunately we are not even close to having to endure something like that. He would probably think what we have to do is just a walk in the park compared to what many other people have had to do.
Exactly…. (linking arms…)