Nick Serio’s Reviews > Shadow Divers > Status Update

This chapter describes Kohler's backround in diving, the glass buisness, his family relationships, and his interest in WWII. It all leads up to the third dive into the U-boat.

In the first half of the chapter, the return to the U-boat is made a one diver is missing and dead. On the way back the crew lies to Coast Guard about location leaving the wreck a secret. A third trip is made to the wreck with a new crew member, Kohler. He and Chatterton found a china bowl in the U-boat withthe date 1942, confirming the wreck's identity. Now they needed to find which U-boat it was.

This chapter told Chatterton's life story and gave his backround as a vietnam vet and a deep wreck diver. Chatterton was one of the biggest names in shipwreck diving on the east coast.

Author Robert Kurson explains all the dangers of deep ship-wreck diving. Nitrogen narcosis, the build up of nitrogen in the body causes effects similar to alcohol, and can make small problems seem like life or death. Panic in the depths of the Atlantic is what causes the end of most divers. No diver is truly safe until on the deck of the dive boat.

Nagle describes a once great age of ship wreck diving, which has now gone away. Old great divers no longer seek new wrecks, but only want guarentees. Nagle recruits a team of him, a friend, and a crew of 12 divers to go to an unknown sight, which might not be a wreck at all. They now have dived in, unknowing to what awaits them.