. Oct. 5, 1965.
World War II In 1941, while Sheats was serving as a First Class Diver aboard the submarine tender
USS Canopus in the
Philippines, the ship was severely damaged by Japanese planes during the
Battle of Bataan. After the ship was scuttled, to prevent its capture by enemy forces, Sheats joined the ground forces defending
Bataan and
Corregidor. On May 6, 1942, Sheats and his men were captured and taken as
prisoners of war. During his imprisonment at Bataan, Sheats and several members of his team were pressed into service as salvage divers by the Japanese to recover silver coins worth over $8 million (in 1942) that had been dumped by a U.S. Navy vessel between Manila Bay and the island of
Corregidor when capture of the vessel by the Japanese was inevitable. He ensured that as few coins as possible were actually recovered, both to prevent them from falling into enemy hands and to prolong the project for as long as possible. Sheats and his men were prisoners of the Japanese for three years and four months in the Philippines and
Japan. They survived the
Bataan death march and transport to Japan aboard the Noto Maru, one of the infamous Japanese
Hell ships. After the
Japanese surrender, Sheats and his men were released on September 13, 1945. Sheats served as team leader of
SEALAB II's Team 3, living and working on the ocean floor for fifteen days. Sheats celebrated his fiftieth birthday aboard SEALAB II. During decompression at the end of the project, Sheats experienced a mild case of
decompression sickness. He later worked as a consultant in
Washington state until his death in 1995. == Publications ==