The Controversy
It is all very impressive. At that time, nobody had ever survived a submarine disaster after being sunk to those depths. Even though his original estimates were off by 100 feet, 170 feet is still a long way down when you’re trapped in a metal coffin.
The problem is that nobody knew at the time if it really happened or if Capes was just making it all up. It was just so extraordinary, and so unlikely that people within and outside of the British Navy doubted it could ever happen.
There was no proof that Capes was ever on board, as he wasn’t a member of the crew outside of helping in the fuel center of the ship. He wasn’t on the roster, as he was simply a transfer between two different submarine corps, and was heading to Alexandria.
Also, submarine commanders were ordered to latch all emergency exits from the outside, which would preclude Capes from exiting the sub like he had claimed. This caused a lot of doubt around the Navy.
But it did in fact happen the way he said it did. It wasn’t confirmed however, until 1997, almost 12 years after Capes died. Dive crews were able to find the Perseus in the exact condition Capes stated it to be, and even found his rum bottle.
Any time we hear about an extraordinary escape like this one, the first thing a lot of people do is doubt. For John Capes he suffered from this doubt his entire life. In the end though, it was a real escape from a major tragedy. A tragedy that was but one of many during the second World War.
The sinking of the HMS Perseus was just one of at least 452 maritime disasters during World War II. For example, The Wilhelm Gustloff, was hit by three torpedoes on January 30, 1945, At least 5,348 were confirmed dead, but there may have been as many as 9,400 on board.
The Japanese battleship Yamato was the largest battleship ever built. It was sank by the United States on April 7th, 1945. Around 2,500 people died.
As you can see there were hundreds of such disasters throughout the war. Some were deliberate attacks by either side of the war, while others, like the Perseus were sunk by mines left behind by the Germans, Italians or Japanese.
With at least 60 million deaths during World War II (on the low side), the number of deaths at sea shouldn’t be uprising, but it is. Estimates put the number of dead at sea anywhere between 1 and 2 million people, which is a significant percentage of the total number of people killed in the war.
With those types of statistics, it makes John Capes’ escape from the HMS Perseus all the more miraculous.