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Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
: If you like books such as The Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air, you'll enjoy Shadow Divers. It's the true adventure story of 2 American divers who discovered Hitler's missing-and-presumed-dead submarine off the coast of New Jersey.
It was long believed that this missing German sub, number U-869, had been sunk somewhere off Gibraltar. Then two death-defying wreck divers from the US began delving into this boat found off NJ in 1991 and discovered the German U-boat had actually been sunk by its own torpedo, killing all on board. But that wasn't the end of the killing. During the discovery/exploration phase of this expedition, 3 wreck divers died, mostly from the complications of SCUBA diving in 230 feet of cold water.
But the physical aspects are only part of the tale. There are also the relationships and psychological games that are played out among weekend warriors wearing wet suits.
Mystery, action, danger, history, drama, fame: who could ask for more from a true adventure book?
 I first came across an excerpt of this book in a magazine and was fascinated by the story. I couldn't wait to read the entire book. It turned out to be everything I hoped it would be.
On one level, it is a real-life mystery story. A group of divers find a wreck in the waters off New Jersey that no one has ever seen before. It turns out to be a German U-boat. No German U-boat is recorded as having been sunk anywhere near the site of the wreck. Over the course of a number of years clues are uncovered, research is done, wrong paths are followed and truth is unraveled until, finally, proof is brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic. It is a fascinating tale.
On another level, it is a story of diving and, more importantly, the men who do the diving. Some of the fascination in a book like this, at least for me, is the ability to glimpse a world I will never know. Part of me longs to walk Antarctica like Scott & Amundsen or dive for sunken ships like the men in this book, but I know I will never do it. For me, what must surely be the extraordinary highs of deep-sea diving will never compensate for the risk involved. And yet, it is thrilling at least to live the life vicariously through a story like this.
We learn the difficulties and, sometimes, horrors of diving to depths of 200 feet or more. It doesn't seem like much but only a handful of divers have the ability to go this far under the ocean. Bill Nagle, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler are men who have this skill. We learn about their lives, the close-knit and often alien culture of divers and what drives them to risk their lives (and, in a some cases as we see up close in this book, lose their lives). We see the search to name this U-boat become an obsession for Chatterton and Kohler and share with them the excitement of their search and ultimate success.
Kurson does an excellent job of telling the story. His prose allows us to participate in the journey, scared, amazed, sickened and elated as the moment warrants. He lets the clues unfold and doesn't give away the answer until the time is right. It is a wonderful book well worth reading.
This is an extremely well written book that is both gripping and educational. You get a glimpse into a relatively unknown adventure sport as well as into the lives of sailors on a German U-boat. Those who liked Ship of Gold should really enjoy this. Don't assume you have to have an interest in diving or boating. I don't. This is a fun book you will care about.
This book is great! It's very interesting. It keeps you intrigued. It gave me the chills. It's very sad what happened and I love the way it describes what the divers went through to find it and finally identify the U boat.
If you have ever dived any sort of scuba rig, or ventured down on a shipwreck, or just thought about doing it, you absolutely have to read Robert Kurson's book,"Shadow Divers." It is the most authentic, chilling, and compelling story about wreck diving that can be imagined--and every word is true. Those who dive for pleasure in warm waters of the Caribbean will not be acquainted with the problems wreck divers find offshore New Jersey: bone chilling water, hard currents, near total darkness, and most to be feared, water depths over 220' feet. Narcosis comes on quickly, and every dive is a decompression dive. Kurson's book combines history, bravery, human passions, and diving situations that are totally absorbing. One incident concerning a father and son on a deep wreck is horrifying. Kurson leads the reader through it without a word of hype, but with a terrible sense of foreboding. Forget any other book you thought you'd read this summer; go get "Shadow Divers."
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