© MC2 Nathan Burke/Navy
Sailor Peter Mims hid out in the dankest, darkest depths of the cruiser Shiloh's engineering space for a week this summer, avoiding detection.
was a troubled sailor who wanted out of the Navy. He had financial problems, his marriage had fallen apart and his chain of command was riding him about qualifications. He'd sought mental health counseling, but was not treated when he needed it most.
Before he disappeared from the cruiser Shiloh on June 8, Mims was known for making crazy-yet-sincere claims.
Shipmates recalled him saying he had been to space, and that he could shoot fireballs out of his hands.
After he went missing and sparked a massive, 5,500 square-mile man overboard search across the Philippine Sea, the ship's crew continued a hopeful and fruitless search for him inside the claustrophobic catacombs of the ship's engineering spaces.
A week after he disappeared - and after his family was notified of his presumed death -
a search crew found him hiding in an escape passage leading out of a sweltering engine room.
He was covered in urine and feces, and had a camelback, a multi-tool, Peeps candy and an empty peanut butter jar with him.
Comment: Pretty sure that dying wish is a no-brainer.
This article is positively dripping with sensationalism. It was a horrible crime, made all the worse by this incendiary word-porn. Yellow journalism at its finest.