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Featured Book - Shadow Divers

Last modified on 2007-09-18 03:47:19 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Shadow Divers is a book about a couple of New Jersey wreck divers who discovered a WWII era, German U-Boat in the fall of 1991. It took six years and several diver deaths to ultimately identify the wreck and rewrite history. This is a book about pushing the envelope of deep wreck diving and pursuing a dream of righting a historical error.

To most recreational divers, the names John Chatterton and Ritchie Kohler are familiar. They are the hosts of the History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives” and well known in the international dive community. I found both men’s backgrounds to be intriguing and thorough. Both are veterans of the Andrea Doria, the Mount Everest of wreck diving, and their experiences on the Doria are entertaining and well documented here.

One of the most fascinating chapters in the book covers the dangers of deep diving. Nitrogen narcosis and its affects such as jungle drums, tunnel vision, and sensory intoxication are documented in detail. The book also covers the deaths of several divers who perished while exploring the wreck.

Nova featured the story on one of its PBS programs as “Hitler’s Lost Sub”. It is available on amazon.com on DVD and is a two hour look into the discovery, research, and ultimate triumph of Chatterton and Kohler as they positively identify the U-boat. The DVD also features interviews with families of the doomed crew members of the u-boat.

Bottom Line: This is the best book on diving I have read - period. I am a student of history as well as a World War II buff and this book does not disappoint. The story is almost too good to be true and perfect for a big screen adaptation which is pending in 2008. This book has it all: history, perils of both deep and wreck diving, warfare, u-boats, and the U-boat crew and their families. A must read for any diver interested in wreck diving, WWII history, and u-boats.
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