In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves. For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths … treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the fall of 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what they found 230 feet below the surface, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey: a World War II German U-boat, its ruined interior a macabre wasteland of twisted metal, tangled wires, and human bones–all buried under decades of accumulated sediment.
No identifying marks were visible on the submarine or the few artifacts brought to the surface. No historian, expert, or government had a clue as to which U-boat the men had found. In fact, the official records all agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat and crew at that location.
Over the next six years, an elite team of divers embarked on a quest to solve the mystery. Some of them would not live to see its end. Chatterton and Kohler, at first bitter rivals, would be drawn into a friendship that deepened to an almost mystical sense of brotherhood with each other and with the drowned U-boat sailors–former enemies of their country. As the men’s marriages frayed under the pressure of a shared obsession, their dives grew more daring, and each realized that he was hunting more than the identities of a lost U-boat and its nameless crew.
Author Robert Kurson’s account of this quest is at once thrilling and emotionally complex, and it is written with a vivid sense of what divers actually experience when they meet the dangers of the ocean’s underworld. The story of Shadow Divers often seems too amazing to be true, but it all happened, two hundred thirty feet down, in the deep blue sea.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Kurson’s Pirate Hunters.
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Riveting. It’s an underwater wreck diving adventure. It’s a WWII mystery. It’s a tale of heartache and perseverance. And it’s entirely true. I literally could not put it down.
Excellent book and window on the world of deep sea diving. This is a whole other world that must of us will never experience. Very well done book.
I read this book years ago and have never forgotten it. It is a page in history that you know some of but this takes a deep dive into a slice that is less known. It is also a fascinating look at scuba divers who search sunken ships. It’s history, science, sleuthing, psychology, and personal stories all rolled into one. It is one of the most …
This is one of the most well written and well researched books that I’ve read in years!
Shadow Divers is a quest story, and, as those often are, a story of obsession. It chronicles the discovery of a sunken U-boat off New Jersey by a group of die-hard wreck divers and their six-year campaign to identify that relic.
In 1991, when Bill Nagle and his small band of fanatics first ran across the sub in question (eventually identified as …
An adventure story worthy of Clive Cussler with a surprising poignant twist.
I found the dive scenes realistic and the descriptions and risks of diving a sunken ship (sub) accurate and highly entertaining.
Robert Kurson takes us into the world of deep diving and exploration with John Chatterton and Richie Kohler as they test themselves against the frigid Atlantic waters to discover the identity of a German U-boat.
When I first started diving, this book spurned my imagination and determination to dive and go to depths not explored by many men. These …
This book is great!!! I’m not into scuba diving but the author Robert Kurson is simply just a great writer. He brings you right there into the story of how these men found this submarine and how treacherous it was to find out more about it.
Lots of great information, but not too much to slow the story line down (Hello Erik Larson) and this kept …
This is not a book I would pick up to read, but glad I did. Very interesting and hard to put down. The best part, it is a true story. Highly recommend this book
The subject of this book is not one I would ordinarily be drawn to…but I enjoyed it so much that I ordered more copies for friends and family.
I am not a diver, however, many members of my family are. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the concept of being able to breath under water. My brother-in-law, a dive instructor, was reading this book and recommended it to me. I’ve read it twice. This is a very inspirational, funny, sad, realistic, heroic, sometimes tragic read. What …
Phenomenal true story of perseverance and grit! Brings the reader into the story and introduces you to many of the sadder realities of life and warfare.
Non-fiction historical adventure drama played out across the world during WWII. You will surprisingly want all sides to succeed as you gain an incredible amount of information and empathy in this mystery no one knew existed.
I respect my scuba gear and training more
I listened to this book on a trip to Florida years ago and it was riveting, and I’m not even a diver like my husband is. I also met Richie Koehler and his partner at a symposium once and I highly recommend this book.
Great read-couldn’t put it down!!!
The subject matter was interesting but the flow was choppy. The plot seemed to be interrupted by background information about the characters. Although the characters life experiences were important to the story, sometimes the biographical chapters interrupted the main plot.
Loved this book.
Truly a fascinating story of underwater diving to the limits, and the marine archeology of having found a hitherto unrecorded wreck of a WWII German U-boat. Very intense.