“Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson is an adventurous depiction of a group of amateur deep sea divers who discover a U-boat, a World War 2 era German submarine, sunken in the deep waters off the coast of New Jersey. The sea divers eventually find out that there are no official records listing a sunken sub at that location and later set out to determine the lost identity of the mysterious U-boat.
Kurston focuses on the two main divers who obsessed over the U-boat, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, who first meet each other while exploring the U-boat. Chatterton is a former doctor in the military who saw scary frontline action, while Kohler is a crazy man who becomes a partying drunk. The two men, both terrific divers, do not like each other at …show more content…
Several work partners of Chatterton and Kohler die themselves, as well as Chatterton and Kohler having very close calls.
Over the course of several years, the two friends keep returning to the sub to look for clues to its identity. In between treacherous dives, they travel to Washington, D.C. to explore for clues on identification of the sub. Along their travel route, they converse with fellow experts and divers who are interested. Their obsession of deep sea diving takes a toll on their families, and Kurston describes the men’s struggle to cope with these issues that ensue.
At first, their research points to a small number of subs that were known to have been patrolling the East Coast during the war, that have not been accounted for. Eventually, their research instead points them to the possibility that the submarine is a U-869, which is officially recorded as being sunk off the coast of Africa, North Africa particularly. The divers can finally positively identify the identity of the submarine after they find a box of spare parts on the sub with a metal plate stamped with the U-boat’s serial
Kurston focuses on the two main divers who obsessed over the U-boat, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, who first meet each other while exploring the U-boat. Chatterton is a former doctor in the military who saw scary frontline action, while Kohler is a crazy man who becomes a partying drunk. The two men, both terrific divers, do not like each other at …show more content…
Several work partners of Chatterton and Kohler die themselves, as well as Chatterton and Kohler having very close calls.
Over the course of several years, the two friends keep returning to the sub to look for clues to its identity. In between treacherous dives, they travel to Washington, D.C. to explore for clues on identification of the sub. Along their travel route, they converse with fellow experts and divers who are interested. Their obsession of deep sea diving takes a toll on their families, and Kurston describes the men’s struggle to cope with these issues that ensue.
At first, their research points to a small number of subs that were known to have been patrolling the East Coast during the war, that have not been accounted for. Eventually, their research instead points them to the possibility that the submarine is a U-869, which is officially recorded as being sunk off the coast of Africa, North Africa particularly. The divers can finally positively identify the identity of the submarine after they find a box of spare parts on the sub with a metal plate stamped with the U-boat’s serial