Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America

by Annie Jacobsen

Out at sea, a strange event occurred. It happened in the middle of the long journey, when his ship was more than a thousand miles from land. A series of violent storms struck, sending passengers inside for days until finally the weather cleared. On the first clear day, Dr. Alexander ventured outside to play shuffleboard. Gazing out across the wide sea, he spotted an enormous single wave traveling with great speed and force, bearing down on his tiny steamship. There was no escape from what he quickly recognized as a tidal wave. Before Dr. Alexander could run back inside the ship, the President Jackson was lifted up by this great wave. “The ship traveled up the steep slope very slowly, further and further, until we finally reached the top,” he wrote to his brother, Theo. And then, with the ship balancing precariously at the top of the wave, he described the terrifying feeling that followed. “Suddenly there was nothing behind it… nothing but a steep descent.” The ship began to free-fall, “its nose plunged deep into the water.… The impact was harsh, water splashed to all sides, and things fell to this side and that in the kitchen and common rooms.” The ship regained its balance, almost effortlessly, and steamed on. “The whole thing happened so unbelievably fast,” Alexander wrote. “When it was over, I said to myself now I understand the meaning of the saying, ‘the ocean opens up before you and swallows you whole.’”