Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

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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

by Robert Kurson

4.23 · rating details · 4,169 ratings · 788 reviews

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, b...moreIn 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 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.

"From the Hardcover edition."

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Audio CD - Narrated by Campbell Scott, Abridged, 0 pages

Published June 29th 2004 by Random House Audio

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Jan 05, 2009

Jessica rated it

· 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...moreHoly 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

· 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 ...more

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Oct 01, 2008

Alanna rated it

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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 aga...more

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Jan 16, 2009

trishtrash rated it

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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 t...more

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Aug 19, 2008

Ron rated it

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I wanted to love this book, with its plots and subplots involving the discovery of a "mystery ship" (an unidentified German U-boat sunk off the coast of New Jersey during WWII, and discovered by divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler in 1991), but ultimately all I could do is like it and think about what might have been. My all-time model for what a book can do with a single "true life" event - examining its roots causes, and exploring the larger context within which it hap...moreI wanted to love this book, with its plots and subplots involving the discovery of a "mystery ship" (an unidentified German U-boat sunk off the coast of New Jersey during WWII, and discovered by divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler in 1991), but ultimately all I could do is like it and think about what might have been. My all-time model for what a book can do with a single "true life" event - examining its roots causes, and exploring the larger context within which it happened will always be Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire.

Shadow Divers has a similarly interesting premise: young men whose lives were lost unexpectedly and suddenly. Unlike Maclean, Kurson takes far too long with the setup of the story. He also labors under the disadvantage of not fully knowing exactly what happened and why, beyond knowing that the vessel was sunk the loss of all hands. I just had the feeling that in trying to flesh out the details, some poetic and almost Hollywood-like license was taken. Furthermore, while the scenes in the sea on the dives were involving, those on lnad poking around in files and archives are less rewarding.

Another issue I had personally is that I had some problems with the protagonists themselves. Kohler, for instance, seemed to think that his quest to identify the craft and to contact surviving family members was some kind of crusade of greater significance than it was. Trying to make this like some kind of Trojan epic is a mistake. I'm also somewhat puzzled by the deep initial antagonism, followed by the later almost reverse feelings engendered by their common obsession with discovery, that arises between Chatterton and Kohler. In all fairness, if I were a diver engaging in the time of work they do in their "spare time," I might be able to put myslef in their shoes.

In sum, generally strong under the sea, but weak on land.

(Note: long after I read and put aside this book, I found on Amazon a listing for and review of a book by Gary Gentile that purports to tell the "real" story of U-869 and its discovery, without the alleged distortions in Shadow Divers. I don't intend to follow up, but someone with more interest in the story might want to do so.) (less)

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Mar 09, 2009

Arit rated it

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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 f...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 (s

...more

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Jan 03, 2012

Danielmatuk added it · review of another edition

One of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. Kurson has a way of writing and describing situations and environments with a flare that genuinely made my pulse and eyes race. At tense moments I found myself thoroughly glued to the words and annoyed when they ended.

Kurson brought this story to life. Through his engrossment with the facts, the major players, and their lives, I felt completely surrounded. As the story swims (yuck yuck) forward, I developed an understanding of th...more

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Oct 28, 2011

Karl rated it

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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 an...moreThis 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

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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...more

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Nov 24, 2009

Tami rated it

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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 an...more

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Aug 26, 2009

Scott rated it

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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 "number...moreIn 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

· 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...more

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Jun 15, 2009

Moody rated it

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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

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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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Sep 30, 2010

Ella rated it

· 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 Kurso...more

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Sep 02, 2011

James Korsmo rated it

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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...moreShadow 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

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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...moreDive 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

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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, yo...more

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Dec 29, 2011

Steph! Lee rated it

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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....more

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Sep 28, 2011

Virginia Jacobs rated it

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This book was very interesting and made me want to do deep sea wreck diving, although I've never actually been scuba diving. I think the book did a very good job of explaining the dangers of deep sea diving, as well as the techniques used to cope with these dangers.

Having lived in New Jersey at the time the wreck was discovered, I vaguely recall the story in the news, so it was very interesting to me to read a complete report of the events. It was also interesting to read about how...more

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Nov 13, 2011

Troy Hudson rated it

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Dangerous Depths
A dangerous descent into the unknown murky depths of histories darkest moments, twisted and mangled, resting hundreds of feet below the waves of time. Shadow divers displays the courageous acts of two Americans who dive into their own lives to discover the mystery of a German U-boat long forgotten under the waves. They survive on the human instinct to discover, at all costs. In this book Robert Kurson fills your mind with graphic images of the hards...more Dangerous Depths
A dangerous descent into the unknown murky depths of histories darkest moments, twisted and mangled, resting hundreds of feet below the waves of time. Shadow divers displays the courageous acts of two Americans who dive into their own lives to discover the mystery of a German U-boat long forgotten under the waves. They survive on the human instinct to discover, at all costs. In this book Robert Kurson fills your mind with graphic images of the hardships inside the twisted metal of the once great U-boat. This book gives us an inside look of the life of a German U-boat sent out in to hell during their darkest moments of Word War ll. The book leaves you in suspense at every turn of the page as bubbles float to the surface with only the wonder of what is happening down in the darkest depths of the ocean. Through the book two men sacrifice their lives to discover the mysterious identity of the twisted metal in the bottom of their every thought. Jon Kurakon explores every crevice of possibility to provide the most correct facts possible. Through out the book boundaries of all types are crossed in pursuit of justice for those lost aboard the U-boat. In the book multiple lives are lost diving in to the depths of unknown but all do not die in vein as their deaths provide crucial facts to identify the U-boat. Shadow divers provides its reader with an outstanding image of the hardships of diving so deep. Shadow divers exposes the lives of all those involved with the U-boat to give the reader an better insight of what crucial events lead up to the discovery of the U- boat. It takes 6 long years of research, travel, and dives to unmask the identity of the lost U-boat. The book takes your understanding of Germany during world war 2 and deep sea diving to a new level. Through out the book facts are incredibly arranged to give the book a feeling of almost unreal due to the adventure and action happening in it. This is an amazing book and leaves you wanting more and you will find your self not able to put it down in your excitement to discover the true identity of the Germany U-boat twisted and mangled in the murky depths off the coast of New Jersey.
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Feb 03, 2010

Michael rated it

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Listened to the audio version of this book, found the narrators Jersey shore accent laughable. This author's diligent research shows through in the characters he creates to bring this story alive. The context of the main characters, the drunken charter boat capt. whose amazing pioneering dive career slips away through the bottle, the Vietnam vet whose wartime medic experience resurfaces during onboard tragedy while diving the Doria and German U-boat, and the business man from Jersey shore whose ...more

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Feb 28, 2011

Dick Tatro rated it

· review of another edition

This book is a non-fiction that reads like a fiction book. It is about a long lost WWII U boat that was discovered by divers 60 miles off of the New Jersey coastline. This is a very compelling book that I would compare to the "Perfect Storm" in that when you are done you have enjoyed a thrilling story but you also know a great deal about Nazi WWII U Boats as well as deep seas scuba diving. This is a story of a quest by two men who did not like or respect each other at the start but be...more

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Jan 03, 2009

jill rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to jill by: Will Cheeseman

Shelves: non-fiction, history

It took me a while to get into this book. I'm not really interested in naval history or wreck diving, and the introduction didn't grab me. But I'm a sucker for other people's interests and passions, and once the story got into the various divers and their devotion to the project, I got more involved. I think Kurson did a good job of balancing the various aspects of the story -- the history of submarines and WWII, the technical aspects and appeal of wreck diving, the relationships and personal...more

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Sep 10, 2009

clayton morris rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 17, 2008

Janis rated it

· review of another edition

Rivalry, passion, friendship and loyalty, danger, tragedy, mystery and -- best of all -- history! Shadow Divers is a fascinating account of two men who dedicated years and risked their lives to unravel the story of a WWII U-boat discovered off the coast of New Jersey. I couldn't stop reading.

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Jul 27, 2011

Marian added it · review of another edition

referred by political gabfest as an audio book- What an adventure. I never realized how dangerous deep sea diving is and this book gives many insights. My only criticism of the book was the narrator. I felt that I was watching a documentary made in the 60's for that was the voice of the reader, Michael Pritchard. I had heard that Campbell Scott was narrating on another version of this book and I would have liked to listen to his voice. But that aside, there was so many interesting facts in this ...more

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Dec 01, 2011

Mama Kaye rated it

· review of another edition

I LOVED this book. It was gripping -- fascinating and suspenseful. Part adventure, part mystery, part history lesson, and part personal drama.

I learned a lot about deep-wreck scuba diving, which I found to be enormously interesting. And the real-life adventure tale of these divers exploring the wreck was riveting (an exploration that spanned the course of several years and claimed more than one life).

I also enjoyed getting to know the characters in the book, especially ...more

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Mar 16, 2010

Chris rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: history-wwii-europe

I listened to the audio book and it was quite fascinating. They even had a question and answer session with the author and two of the principal characters. History, mystery, and danger all combined into a great read/listen. It sure made my SoCal commute go fast. Most surprising aspect of the book was the total lack of unity of effort or cooperation among divers in the initial dives on the wreck. It was every person for his or her self. This discovery claimed the lives of three divers. Eventually...more

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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

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