Shadow Divers

Jan 05, 2009 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Holy moly. I didn't think that this book would be as amazing as it was. I had thought it'd be a rather dry telling of an awesome discovery, but it was so much more than that.

Mr. Kurson was able to tell John Chatterton and Richie Kohler's stories so that it read just like that, a story. His tone was honest and even, his research was obvious. There were points where I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction.

I truly appreciated the history that Mr. Kurson injected into this entire book. Not o...more Holy moly. I didn't think that this book would be as amazing as it was. I had thought it'd be a rather dry telling of an awesome discovery, but it was so much more than that.

Mr. Kurson was able to tell John Chatterton and Richie Kohler's stories so that it read just like that, a story. His tone was honest and even, his research was obvious. There were points where I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction.

I truly appreciated the history that Mr. Kurson injected into this entire book. Not only the history of the sub and the men who lost their lives for their country, but the history of wreck-diving, Chatterton and Kohler's histories, and the history of Bill Nagle.

I kept reading through the different chapters thinking, "that's just craziness", or "no WAY!", but I couldn't put it down. The way Mr. Kurson described some of the last moments of wreck-divers that had been lost had me occasionally holding my breath and grieving the outcome. I think that's an amazing feat for a novel such as this. I was genuinely saddened by the losses of divers, and the reconstructed history and eventual loss of the men aboard the U-boat.

I'm amazed by the sheer dedication from Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Kohler. Not only did they want to figure this mystery out, they wanted to do so without giving in to the "treasure hunting" aspect and without disturbing the bones left behind. Their trips all over the world, their passion for discovering the truth, their desire to correct history (and how sad is this - they found that written history is not infallible, that sometimes assumptions were changed and presented as truth in order to make an assessor feel better about his job), and Mr. Kohler's desire to let the families of the U-Boat men know the truth is something that I appreciated, applauded and agreed with.

They risked so much to put an actual name to the boat, not settling for assumptions. They spent years on this project, refusing to quit when their family, friends and colleagues told them it was time to walk away. They didn't give in to the "easy", and instead focused on what was right, and that in itself made their story a magnificent read.(less)

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Feb 04, 2008 Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: History Buffs, Adventure Readers, Those Who Love the Sea

Just as on the Titanic, it is U-869’s ghosts that do not let her sleep, crying out of the depths for their story to be told.

2 amateur “shadow” divers moved beyond reason, spent 6 years of their lives in study, research, planning, travel, and dangerous deep sea diving (risking death countless times, three men did in fact die while diving the wreck) to uncover the identity of a lost WW2 submarine discovered in 1991 on the floor of the Atlantic just off the coast of New Jersey. It is a flawlessly...more

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Jun 22, 2008 K rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: journalism-pop-nonfiction

This is the story of how some guys get into deep-sea diving, discover a previously undetected U-Boat wrecked off the coast of New Jersey, and struggle for over five years to identify it. Reading this was like reading Seabiscuit, in that before I started the book, I had little to no interest in the subject. Then when I started the book, I couldn't put it down. Then when I finished the book, I returned to having little to no interest in the subject.

Overall, engrossing and highly recommended for m...more

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Oct 01, 2008 Alanna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: divers and history buffs

Recommended to Alanna by: Heather for bookclub

Shelves: true-story, book-club, own, history, tracy-borrowed

This is not a book I would normally have picked to read. It was our book club pick this month. I was surprised that I actually did like it. I found it interesting. I thought it was amazing that these divers would not give up until they had the answers they needed to satisfy their own curiosity and need. They went through so much, put in so much time to research, and faced terrible peril. I dive and have done a 100 foot on a shipwreck but after reading this book I don't think I will do it again....more

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Jan 16, 2009 trishtrash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: divers, history buffs, anyone who enjoys a good perils-of-the-sea yarn

Recommended to trishtrash by: cream_of_wheat, diver and fellow livejournaler

Shelves: biog-autobiog-memoirs, history, non-fiction

This book is principally the story of two American divers who risk their lives to explore and identify the wreck of a WWII U-Boat.

Rich with adversity, adventure and war history, the author's enthusiasm for the tale (which in turn is lit by the dedication and determination of the divers themselves) lends the writing that elusive thrill of perfect retelling. The balance of back-story of the men who explored the wreck, the detail and technical information, the history, the suspense of the dives the...more

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Sep 20, 2008 Ty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book tells the story of some guys who find the wreck of a sunken Nazi sub where none is supposed to be, off the coast of NJ. the book covers in painstaking detail the dangers of deep water, open ocean scuba diving and also has a lot of good WWII history thrown in. the people at the center of the story are very interesting and even though the story covers many years in real time, the read goes very quickly. Sometimes the author's prose is a bit overly descriptive, but the story makes up for...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Arit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a very riveting book about two deep-wreck divers who risk everything to solve the mystery of a U-boat (German submarine) that they found off the coast of New Jersey. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It really was very suspenseful for a non-fiction. Wow! There were so many things about deep-wreck diving that I never knew, and things about World War II. My only complaint is that the deep-wreck divers Kurson quotes in the book use A LOT of bad language. I'm really not a fan. Ot...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

The "U-Who" and German soldiers' stories "have settled," Kurson writes, at the bottom of the sea, "where one uncovers the freeze-frames of final human experience." Critics compare Shadow Divers, a danger-filled adventure story that blends action, mystery, science, and military history, to Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Sebastian Unger's Perfect Storm. Like these true-adventure authors, Kurson, contributing editor to Esquire, definitely knows how to tell a story (some parts were previously cove

...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interestingly enough, this read started out as a required novel for a class I was taking about creative writing research. At first I was slightly upset that I was going to have to cram a full novel into my already busy schedule, but I am elated that I took the time to sit and digest everything within pages of this actual account. Kurson makes the divers and researchers of the U-boat wreck come alive as if you had actually met them and had a long dinner together, and also brings the fateful night...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Jenni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sports-with-daddy

When I was around ten years old my dad handed me this book. Looking back on it, I'm not too sure why he did so.

This is what I remember: I heard the word "motherfucker" for the first time, and reflected that it's one hell of a curse word. I became engrossed in the truth and real journalism in this novel--it made me realize the mysteries of the world and the great depths of the sea. Mostly, though, I remember loving the men and their devotion to this wreck. I remember them perservering through it...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Terry Cornell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book passed the wine test! Wine test? That’s when I have a little vino in the evening with my wife and talk about the extraordinary book I’m reading. Not many books ignite my passion for the story, causing it to erupt and emerge on the tip of my tongue during downtime.

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson is a New York Times Bestseller, rumored to become a movie, and a classic guy-read. In 1991, weekend wreck-divers discover what appears to be a German U-boat 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey....more This book passed the wine test! Wine test? That’s when I have a little vino in the evening with my wife and talk about the extraordinary book I’m reading. Not many books ignite my passion for the story, causing it to erupt and emerge on the tip of my tongue during downtime.

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson is a New York Times Bestseller, rumored to become a movie, and a classic guy-read. In 1991, weekend wreck-divers discover what appears to be a German U-boat 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Problem is, no one seems to know its identity or how it got there. Over the next six years, divers Ray Chatterton and Richie Kohler obsessively dive, research, and interview submarine experts around the world trying to solve the mystery.

Resting in sediment on the sea bottom, 230 feet below the ocean’s surface, the U-who is at the depth limits divers could safely reach with technology available at the time.

Kurson immerses neophyte divers into the perils and dangers of wreck-diving (particularly east coast wreck-diving), where the treacherous Atlantic Ocean can change from seemingly docile, sun-speckled swells to dive-boat-wrecking gales within a few hours.

Kurson’s descriptive narrative zips readers into a dry suit and sends them down the anchor line to help explore the wreck with Chatterton, Kohler and the other divers. Limited air, the bends, poor visibility, the potential of being trapped by a jungle of twisted steel and cables, and the ever-present drunk-like state of narcosis that can lead to deadly decisions — all are chilling. Fortunately, the reader survives the dives, but some divers do not.

Chatterton and Kohler begin as bitter rivals, each driven with his own motivation as well as approach to wreck-diving. As the dives and investigation continue, they form a bond that outlasts their marriages — a bond stronger than many lifelong friendships.

Their search for answers takes them to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, where a captured German U-boat is on display, the Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C., and to Germany to visit various U-boat archives and sources.

The wreckage itself provides the final clue to its identity but at the cost of human lives and relationships. Surviving family members in Germany are visited and notified, which helped the author give glimpses of the lives of entombed crewmen fated to spend eternity with their ship. A most important question remains: What caused the U-boat to sink? While Kurson presents Chatterton and Kohler’s theories, the real answer may never be known.

This is a book I found hard to put down. I call it a classic guy-read because women characters are rare and play a relatively minor role. But a surprising amount of space is given to the significance of women in Chatterton’s and Kohler’s lives. These relationships prompted some serious decisions. For a historical, true-life, male-bonding adventure, Shadow Divers can’t be beat.(less)

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Apr 18, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, nonfiction, audiobook

This is a great adventure/mystery; a German U-Boat from World War II is found off the coast of New Jersey. But history records do not mention any such submarine in the area. In fact, historical records are shown to be replete with errors and mistaken identities. So which U-Boat is it? What was it doing there? How did it sink?

This is the story of two brave divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, and how they solved these mysteries. They risked their lives diving down to 230 feet over the cour...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My book-club non-fiction-lover friend, Denise, chose this book. She did it again! I would have NEVER chosen this book myself. Thank God for book club! It was really quite gripping. I was glued to the story. It had all the elements of suspense that a nonfiction mystery novel would've had. The writing was surprisingly fluid and descriptive without becoming bogged down with detail. That's what I most have trouble with in nonfiction...the details drag me into boredom! I disassociate! This one, not a...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Karl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a thrilling adventure book about deep sea shipwreck scuba diving, chronicling the 1991 discovery and subsequent identification of the German WW2 submarine U-869 by Bill Nagel, John Chatterton, and Richie Kohler.

As in all adventure sports, deep sea shipwreck scuba diving has several schools of thought and methods, and this book describes and probes the highly individualistic and independent methods of Chatterton and Kohler, who are Atlantic wreck divers of extraordinary skill and daring.

P...more This is a thrilling adventure book about deep sea shipwreck scuba diving, chronicling the 1991 discovery and subsequent identification of the German WW2 submarine U-869 by Bill Nagel, John Chatterton, and Richie Kohler.

As in all adventure sports, deep sea shipwreck scuba diving has several schools of thought and methods, and this book describes and probes the highly individualistic and independent methods of Chatterton and Kohler, who are Atlantic wreck divers of extraordinary skill and daring.

People in the scuba diving community have been talking about this shipwreck and these divers since the 1990s, for decades, and this book has become widely popular among divers since its publication in 2004.

Like climbing Everest, diving to deep wrecks is an adventure sport that can kill you. Three divers died on this wreck, one unexpectedly, and two others predictably, in this story.

This is an exciting story of deep sea adventure.

Chatterton and Kohler are both super-heroes, due not only to their daring and skills as divers, but also due to their humanity and social responsibility. They went to great lengths and risked their lives to identify this mystery wreck and it's crew, and then to notify the crew's German relatives of the location of this tomb and war grave of their beloved young men.

It also alludes to the God-sent miracle one day back in 1944 when a single acoustic torpedo was launched by a Nazi submarine operating about 60 miles off the shores of New Jersey in the relatively shallow 230 ft waters of the Atlantic shipping lanes there, a single torpedo, fired by a young an inexperienced U-boat crew, in waters too shallow for them to make a safe escape, a single torpedo, which though ostensibly intended for an American freighter went awry in the waters and circled back and found the U-boat instead and crashed into its conning tower, with a massive explosion that broke it apart and sent it to the depths 230 feet below, killing all onboard instantly.

And 47 years later, unknown to anyone else on this Earth, that's where Nagle, Chatterton, and Kohler found it, and then later identified it, and then graciously informed the surviving relatives back home in Germany of the apparent accident and of the location where the dead Kriegsmarinen now lie in repose on the Atlantic floor.(less)

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Jan 22, 2011 Steve Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finished reading Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II and was quite impressed. Anyone interested in deep water diving, ship wrecks, German U-Boats, or World War II should find this true story fascinating. The book centers on two deep ship wreck divers, John Chatterton and Richard (Richie) Kohler who, with the help of dive boat captain Bill Nagle, discover the wreck of a German U-Boat about 65 miles off the New...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Tami rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a fascinating story. Wreck divers discover a sunken German U-Boat off the coast of Jersey and try and identify it. Not as easy as you would think. I learned so much about not only wreck diving,but history. I had no idea what the military assessors do after a war til I read this, very interesting. This book was suspensful, sad and patriotic.

I loved the reverence that the divers paid to the men whose bodies lay deep in the ocean trapped in the war sub. Their personal stories and how they so...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the non-fiction adventure "Shadow Divers" Robert Kurson reveals the story of several men who discovered, and lived on, a German U-boat. The book has two settings, first there are a group of wreck divers who deside to invest some time on a mysterious ocean fishermen site, and the time period begins in 1991. The second setting is from a World War II new U-boat crew, the time period is 1944 Germany.
The book begins with a man named Nagle, who recieves mysterious "numbers" or coordinates from a...more In the non-fiction adventure "Shadow Divers" Robert Kurson reveals the story of several men who discovered, and lived on, a German U-boat. The book has two settings, first there are a group of wreck divers who deside to invest some time on a mysterious ocean fishermen site, and the time period begins in 1991. The second setting is from a World War II new U-boat crew, the time period is 1944 Germany.
The book begins with a man named Nagle, who recieves mysterious "numbers" or coordinates from a local fisher who claims that he was found a ship wreck 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Nagle desides to take the fishermans word and gathers a crew to go and discover whatever this thing is on the bottom of the ocean. One of the members of his crew is a man known as John Chatterton, a middle aged man to has found a strong passion for wreck diving. He and Nagle together are a truly unstoppable team, but Nagle's alchohalism as gotten the best of the once great wreck diver and he can't dive with they rest of the crew. Chatterton discovers that it is a U-boat after recovering some Nazis china from the wreck. This find opens the door for several other artifact hunters, including a Richie Kohler. Richie is a member of a diving group known as the Atlanic Wreck Divers, and they are the grave hunters of the ship wreck world. They loot sunken ships for they're artifacts, and do so without any class. By this I mean they don't treat anyone else with respect accept other AWD, and an example would be they moon other dive boats as they pass them leaving port. At first Richie and Chatterton didn't get along to well as they argued about everything from who got the first beer to who gets to "splash" or dive first; however, this feeling quickley fades as they're over laping goals bring them together, and they become best friends.
Soon the U-boat begins to take lives, and people stop wanting to go and dive the mystery U-boat. It is left up to Chatterton and Richie to discover the U-boats true identity. They both have different approaches to finding out which U-boat they have found. Chatterton goes to the US goverment, and asks for everything they have on U-boats. While this is helpful, there is simply to much information for one person to search through and then put to use. Richie on the other hand goes into his shelves of books, he has had since he was a young lad, to help discover which U-boat he was found, but there the information is just to general for his spesific purposes. Its not until both men exhaust they're U-boat resoucres that a god sent comes in the discovery of a knife on board the U-boat. It is dated to a spesific U-boat, but this boat was supposed to be suck of northern africa. The men gives up hope again, but then discovers through more reseach that the US goverenment had said that the boat was "lost at sea" because they could fiure out where it truly lay. It is at this point that Chatterton discovers that the U-boat is U-boat 869.
The time is 1944 in a German port filled with new enlisted men for Germanys new class of U-boat, the IX type. This sub's crew ages averaged 21 years old! These men are then trained for about a year before going on it's first battle patrol to New York City! The Allies discover the plot, and send a hunter-kill group of ships to go destroy it. The U-boat eludes it's kill group and attacks a ship coming out of New Yorks harbor; however, the torpedoe's guide systems fail and send it right back at the U-boat and sink it!
This book pretty well writen, and even though I didn't care for the authors writing style, I still found it very intoxicating at time. I give it a solid 4/5 in stars. "On my honor I pledge that I have neither given nor recieved any unauthorized help on this assignmet nor have I presented someone elses work as my own" Scott Bingman(less)

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Sep 12, 2010 Keith Rackley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first glance this might be dismissed as appropriate for a light, quick read over a Jersey shore vacation. You would definitely enjoy it under those circumstances, but Kurson offers much more. You will find the true story of a few extraordinary deep wreck divers who are special athletes, each possessing a finely honed sense of purpose and super human self-control.

As the story begins, they happen upon a complex mystery 50 years in the making. In response, a core team of divers find friendship...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shadow Divers is the compelling story of two deep sea divers who stumble upon a U-boat wreck in the early 1990s, and then work to identify the wreck for many years. Their perseverance is laudable, the risks they took were insane, and the costs of their quest were great.

The story telling reminds me of “Into thin air” by Jon Krakauer. Shadow Divers is well researched and provides great detail into the specifics of diving, experiences on specific dives, and how some divers met their fate. As a non...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My mom always said that my little brother would make a great marine archaeologist but if she read this book she'd lock up all of the military history books and his PADI card. Wreck diving is terrifying and this book takes you inside several wrecks and the lives of the people who survived diving them...and those who didn't.

Thanks to my new job I've gone caving this year, but the thought of caving underwater where the "cave" is deteriorating metal full of twisted wires and rotten wood boards give...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a true page turner about deep ocean wreck divers on the east coast. They discover a German U-Boat from WWII and explore it and research it to determine its identity. It is a real mystery because there is no historical record of a German submarine being sunk in the location where they find this boat. The author does an excellent job of providing detail on the techniques, equipment and dangers of this type of diving in the time period of this book. He has a way of weaving in the backg...more

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Jun 15, 2009 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shadow Divers was amazing, powerful and grand. The recounting of an unknown mystery that revealed itself and its details slowly--and only after the greatest effort had been devoted to it, and the greatest sacrifices made--a mystery that yielded its final truth only after nearly all hope was lost. Kisha strongly recommended it, and I trust her opinion on books, but I was still a little uncertain. Until I embarked on it. Then I was intrigued, then I was captivated, then I was enthralled. Then I go...more

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Apr 24, 2009 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Best book I've read in five years. The adventure of a lifetime. A mystery underwater? I was already hooked. Two guys who find a German U-Boat off the New Jersey coast? The entire crew still inside? That's a book with promise. And the author delivers. He weaves the right combination of non-fiction research and a fascinating tale of two men struggling for seven years--against incredible and unexpected odds--to figure out which U-Boat they had found. If you know anything about research, or simply b...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Paul Foley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: maritime-disasters

Here's a ripping good story spoiled in the telling. It's a (mostly) true tale that needs no embellishment, sadly marred by Robert Kurson's overheated prose and rendered ridiculous by his mixed, clumsy, and often downright absurd metaphors. At one point he likens a storm in the open North Atlantic Ocean to a "tantrum"; a vessel and men endangered, compared to a minor domestic annoyance engendered by a toddler. Kurson is also prone to inventing verbs, as in "he subtled his hand forward" to describ...more Here's a ripping good story spoiled in the telling. It's a (mostly) true tale that needs no embellishment, sadly marred by Robert Kurson's overheated prose and rendered ridiculous by his mixed, clumsy, and often downright absurd metaphors. At one point he likens a storm in the open North Atlantic Ocean to a "tantrum"; a vessel and men endangered, compared to a minor domestic annoyance engendered by a toddler. Kurson is also prone to inventing verbs, as in "he subtled his hand forward" to describe a diver moving carefully to avoid disturbing the silt.

It's a pity, because if the horrible writing can be tuned out there is a fine story here. John Chatterton is undoubtedly a dedicated, ingenious, and courageous wreck diver and the discovery of an unknown WW2 German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey is certainly remarkable. I can understand the boyish glee at the discovery; it's like a Civil War buff finding an actual canon in someone's old barn. And boyish glee shouldn't be underrated.

The beginning of the book feels like it has been cribbed from a bad pirate movie. Much is made of the rivalry between charter boat captains Bill Nagle and Steve Bielenda; all utterly irrelevant as it turns out, since the latter never actually figures in the story. Then there is the rivalry between divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and his "gang", the Atlantic Wreck Divers. It all seems woefully petty and just makes everyone look bad. I'm glad none of the people I dive with act even remotely like this.

Kurson is big on the idea that the meaning of life is to be found in testing oneself, and there is much ado about manly men being men. The book is replete with the usual pseudo-Nietzschean claptrap and generally suffers from testosterone toxicity.

Interestingly, there were one or two women aboard the Seeker diving this wreck. Their voices are never heard.

The obvious question, though it is never raised in this book, is Why? Three divers died on this wreck, amateur divers who were quite literally out of their depth diving 100 feet beyond the depth limit for recreational diving. The dangers of diving below 150 feet on compressed air were well known at the time and had been known since the 1930s. Two of the dead, a father and son team, were not using trimix breathing gas because it was too expensive.

In the space of thirteen months the Seeker radioed the Coast Guard three times reporting dead or bent divers, necessitating two helicopter rescue operations. The Seeker was not a proper research vessel but a dive charter boat and did not have a decompression chamber. It was not working under the auspices of NOAA or any recognised research agency, some of the divers lacked proper training, equipment and experience for the type of diving being attempted; unsurprisingly, they repeatedly ran into serious trouble. I'd like to know what the Coast Guardsmen thought of this, but their voices are not heard either.

In an attempt to lend this adventure seriousness of purpose, the endeavour is credited with establishing closure and correcting history. But does it? Wreck diver Gary Gentile has written a book disputing nearly all of Shadow Divers findings and claiming U-869 could not have been sunk by its own torpedo. According to his research, it was sunk by a pair of US Navy destroyer escorts. There's even room for doubt as to the sub's identity, which Kurson claims was established by Chatterton recovering a wooden box from the wreck bearing a U-869 tag. But Chatterton had earlier found a knife bearing crewman Horenburg's name, and that was dismissed as too circumstantial to be definitive. Well, a small wooden box is just as portable as a knife, its evidence just as circumstantial. Sure, it's likely that this wreck is the U-869. Before, the U-869 was assumed lost with all hands off of Gibraltar. Now, it can be assumed that it was lost with all hands off the coast of New Jersey. To what extent does this re-write the history of WW2? Does it really offer any comfort to the families of the German sailors, fifty or sixty years after the event? Was any of it worth the deaths of three divers?

(less)

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Sep 30, 2010 Ella rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not interested in scuba diving, in boats, in submarines or in WWII, but I was intrigued by the great ratings. Boy, am I glad I didn't miss this one! What an incredible story, and it is non-fiction to boot! The story is fascinating, the men on the diving mission are fearless beyond belief and the history they uncover is staggering. I only listened to the abridged version because the unabridged was 2 credits and I was not sure this book was going to be my cup of tea.

Robert Kurson does an ou...more

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Sep 02, 2011 James Korsmo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Shadow Divers was exactly what I was hoping for. It is a fascinating tale of adventure and exploration that details the discovery of a mystery U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The book works great as an adventure book, with lots of descriptive details regarding the craft of wreck diving and the tales of the people who risked and sometimes lost their lives on this wreck and others. And the risky deep-water dives in pursuit of this mystery ship certainly proved hazardous, with three divers losi...more Shadow Divers was exactly what I was hoping for. It is a fascinating tale of adventure and exploration that details the discovery of a mystery U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The book works great as an adventure book, with lots of descriptive details regarding the craft of wreck diving and the tales of the people who risked and sometimes lost their lives on this wreck and others. And the risky deep-water dives in pursuit of this mystery ship certainly proved hazardous, with three divers losing their lives in the 200 feet plus depths. But the book weaves this adventure in with a mystery surrounding the identity of the newly-discovered ship. No U-boat were known to have gone missing anywhere in the vicinity. And the ship was reluctant to give up her secret, as years of diving produced no clear indication of just which ship she was. So John Chatterton and Rickie Kohler, two of the wreck divers, set off on a years-long quest to research U-boats in general, and dig through reams of primary documents detailing U-boat communication intercepts (the famed Enigma intercepts that were publicized in the movie U-571) and other documents from WWII, at times questioning the received wisdom or even consensus history when it didn't check out under further scrutiny. And the mystery drove these men years of research both in American archives and in trips to Germany to meet U-boat historians and even a former captain.

But the book has a third layer as well, the story of the three men who were principally involved in the discovery of the ship and its identity, as well as the story of the fated German U-boat. Especially the stories of the three divers, Bill Nagle, Chatterton, and Kohler, are what drive the story, as we get to know them and what drives them, and see how this mystery gets intertwined with their lives and their understanding of who they are.

In the end, this book was highly satisfying. It was fun to read, tied together by a mystery that needed solving, and driven by interesting and carefully reported characters. And I'm happy to recommend it. (less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Q. Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dive Into Another World

I’m thirty-two years old, and I love history. Old history, that is. More-recent history, such as WWII, WWI, Vietnam and so on, doesn’t have the same allure for me as the Civil War, Roman history, British history, Egyptian history, etc. do.

Well, heck. That has changed because of one book, “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson. Did you know that during WWII, German U-boats snuck up in American waters and some got so close to the shore that the crew could smell U.S. trees, listen...more Dive Into Another World

I’m thirty-two years old, and I love history. Old history, that is. More-recent history, such as WWII, WWI, Vietnam and so on, doesn’t have the same allure for me as the Civil War, Roman history, British history, Egyptian history, etc. do.

Well, heck. That has changed because of one book, “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson. Did you know that during WWII, German U-boats snuck up in American waters and some got so close to the shore that the crew could smell U.S. trees, listen to U.S. radio? Many of these U-boats were sunk in waters around the United States coast and are still there. I’d had no idea. Ignorant me had this misconception of WWII being fought way over there, there being Germany, Japan, England, wherever. Hawaii was attacked, yeah, but Hawaii isn’t mainland U.S.

When I saw the U-boats fact mentioned in the book’s blurb, I knew I HAD to get this book. And it’s a treat. It’s a must-read for anyone. It has mystery, suspense, intrigue, honorable men, rapscallion men, the bad boys with hearts of gold and the women who love them, and death. Lots of death but an uplifting ending. It’s nonfiction but is better-paced and more suspenseful than most fiction I have read.

Kurson basically follows a group of divers as they discover a sunken U-boat and the group’s struggle over several years to identify which boat it is. The divers end up changing recorded history. Kurson provides a fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking look into diving culture.

I have no quibbles with this book, but I did wonder about some of the divers. They did what is an honorable thing, at least on first glance. They found bodies in the wreckage, lots of bodies. Well, not bodies. Skeletons and bones are more accurate. The divers refused to ransack the bones in order to identify the U-boat. Respect for the dead, respect for their families. The divers didn’t want to have to tell the families that they had to paw through their loved ones’ pockets to find a tag to identify the U-boat.

That’s great. All well and good.

Except what happens? The divers can’t find ID elsewhere. Several years go on. Still they refuse to riffle through the bodies/clothes on the bodies. I dunno. It seems presumptuous of them to assume what the families would have wanted. If I had lost a loved one at sea, I’d like to know where he was, even if that meant someone had to go through his pockets for a tag. The divers had a pretty good idea which U-boat this was, so why didn’t they just ask the families what they preferred instead of assuming for them?

Anyway, that was a bit maddening but is no reflection on the author. This book gets five stars out of five. Once you start reading, be prepared to be immersed in claustrophobic and thrilling situations for hours.(less)

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Nov 06, 2009 AJ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE

Shelves: one-of-my-favorites, favorites

Absolutely INCREDIBLE.

i cannot express in words how fantastic i thought this book was. an absolute page turner that i wish i could convince everyone to read.

the fact that this was non-fiction made it all the better. i cannot believe that they haven't made a movie based on this book.

i recommend it to everyone.

some favorite lines:
-if an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it.
-if you follow in another's footsteps, you miss the problems really worth solving.
-excellence is born...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A most interesting tale of two divers who became obsessed with identifying a U-boat shipwreck found 230' down not too far from the New Jersey coast. The book describes in great and breath-holding detail about the dangers of deep shipwreck diving, with all the fears of narcosis (before trimix became popular, when just oxygen was used) and the perils of loose cables, wires, and unstable surfaces. These two men went through great efforts diving this boat and doing tremendous research about U-boats...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Steph! Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wonderful job of introducing an unfamiliar sport to readers and integrating it into the story line. At the same time, telling a parallel storyline of life on the u-boat and dapples of WWII history.

At times the pure machismo that seems prevalent throughout the deep sea wreck diver community seemed to have rubbed off on the author when he seems to idolize their confidence and inflates them to non-human characters. But, I will say, it reads like you're watching a movie and I loved it.

Kurson did a...more

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interesting	13	65	Apr 28, 2013 05:03pm
Finding U-Who	5	19	May 10, 2012 08:10am

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