Shadow Divers

“Deep-shipwreck diving is unusual in another respect. Because it confronts man’s most primordial instincts—to breathe; to see; to flee from danger—the layperson need not strap on the equipment in order to appreciate the peril.”

This quote points out the universal fears that deep-sea divers must confront and overcome during exploration. Diving at dangerous depths stresses the brain to the point that it can betray the body and sometimes lead to avoidable deaths.

“A good diver reveals himself in the way he gears up. He is at one with his equipment. He knows where every piece goes; every strap is the perfect length, every tool expertly placed, and everything fits.”

The text descriptively compares the actions and appearance of a seasoned diver to those of an amateur. Although seasoned divers have a much better chance of survival, and other experienced divers can spot them easily, a single misfortune can nevertheless kill them in an instant.

“Not all divers succumb to panic as Drozd did. A great diver learns to stand down his emotions. At the moment he becomes lost or blinded or tangled or trapped, that instant when millions of years of evolution demanded fight or flight and narcosis carves order from his brain, he dials down his fear and contracts into the moment until his breathing slows and his narcosis lightens and his reason returns.”

This passage again showcases the essential behavior of experienced divers: They can control their emotions while navigating challenging environments and battling nitrogen narcosis. In addition, this quote foreshadows the behavior that ultimately saved Chatterton’s life, when he almost drowned in the wreck and was able to survive only because he kept his head and held his breath until he could reach his backup air tank.

“The massive dredges did not discriminate in what they pulled from the bottom of the Atlantic; along with piles of scallops came Russian fishing nets, whale skulls, bombs, cannonballs, mastodon teeth, muskets. And shipwreck artifacts.”

The genesis of Chatterton’s fascination with shipwrecks is evident here. While trawling on a scallop boat, he became enthralled with the artifacts pulled from the sea floor, and this pointed him toward commercial diving and eventually shipwreck exploration.

“Nagle just stared at his radios. If he called the Coast Guard now, hours before Chatterton and Crowell could even attempt to recover Feldman’s body, he would be broadcasting the wreck’s location to every boat and seaman in a thirty mile radius, any of whom could use a direction finder to zero in and steal the wreck site.”

The text underscores the ethical complications of wreck diving. Jealously guarded wreck sites were fortune makers for diving captains, but the death of another human being should take precedence over profit. Nevertheless, Nagle hesitated. His rivalry with Bielenda was so strong that he decided not to radio in the death until they left the dive site.

“Chatterton snatched the bag away and turned his shoulder to block Kohler. The divers’ bodies tensed. Their eyes locked. No one moved for what seemed like minutes. The men did not like each other. They did not like what the other represented. And you don’t touch a guy’s shit. But as Chatterton searched Kohler’s eyes, he could not find anything sinister in them; the man was just flat-out excited to see the china.”

This illustrates the central character conflict between Chatterton and Kohler. Two divers with vastly different histories and diving philosophies, they were nonetheless united in their fascination with the wreck. In this moment, their partnership began.

“The Thugs did their best teaching on the way to the wrecks, and their method was ancient and indelible. They discussed how a wreck’s tilt betrayed where its artifacts lay. They revealed the beauty of using brains and a steel wedge over brawn and a sledgehammer. They were living encyclopedias of dive accidents.”

This quote reveals the methods that Kohler was trained to use. Unabashedly materialistic, the Atlantic Wreck Divers nonetheless used the same skills and mental discipline as Chatterton to retrieve artifacts. The difference in their diving philosophy posed the only real difference.

“For decades, scuba divers had breathed good old-fashioned air from their tanks. In recent months, however, a group of cutting-edge warm-water divers had ditched air in favor of a mixture of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen known as ‘trimix.’”

While diving the wreck, the divers considered the constant innovation in diving technology. A new technology can pose new challenges and create a learning curve, but innovative deep-sea diving solutions like trimix can open up new possibilities.

“When the Rouses hit water it was clear they were blood. They dove as a team and had developed a sixth sense between them, the kind of anticipation born of a lifetime of living under the same roof. Underwater, they remained absolutely loyal, each willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the other. This single-mindedness—this love—made the Rouses perhaps the most formidable team in diving.”

Here, the text establishes the impressive skill set of the Rouses. However, despite their impressive abilities, they died tragically while exploring the U-869 wreckage. This showcases the deadliness of diving to that wreck and the risk of deep-sea diving in general.

“Narcosis banged like an industrial press inside Chrissy’s brain, tunneling his peripheral vision and lighting the panic fuse of his instincts.”

Vivid imagery describes the agonizing symptoms of nitrogen narcosis. Even Chrissy Rouse, a highly experienced diver, fell prey to the debilitating effects of the condition after a single mistake. This led to the death of both the father and son.

“In thirty-six years, there had been several thousand dives on the Andrea Doria, the most dangerous of all shipwrecks. Six people had died. In a single year, the U-Who had claimed three lives.”

Chatterton contended with an ethical dilemma as he brought more divers to the site. Although all the divers were experienced and enthusiastic, he felt responsible for their well-being and also for the three deaths. This quote emphasizes the extreme risks of this dive site compared to the site of a previous wreck.

“They began to imagine how the U-boat had met its end. By now they had conferred with several munitions experts. All evidence pointed in a single direction: the U-boat had been destroyed by a massive explosion, the kind most likely caused by a torpedo. But whose torpedo?”

The central mystery at the heart of the book is what happened to U-869. Chatterton and Kohler used meticulous research methods to try to reconstruct the sinking, but many crucial questions remained unanswered.

“The underwater environment presented its own perils. An Allied ship that suspected there was a submerged U-boat in its vicinity could use sonar—the broadcast of sound waves—to sniff it out.”

This quote draws a parallel between the Allied forces’ efforts in World War II to spot and destroy U-boats and the efforts of the divers to locate and explore the wreck. The fact that the technology hadn’t changed much in about 50 years highlights the historical throughline between the U-boat and the divers.

“As Chatterton and Kohler digested the late U-boat war, each discovered a new pride for Allied ingenuity and tenacity, for the ability of the United States to dig deep into its instinct for freedom, rise up against one of history’s most terrifying threats, and pound it down until the world was safe again. Yet neither of them could put out of his mind the crewmen lying dead in their wreck.”

The text illustrates the power of Chatterton and Kohler’s firsthand exploration and research to connect them with history. Although they were proud of the Allies’ skillful victory over the Nazis, both men were still uncomfortably aware of the cost of that victory to normal German people, soldiers with little to no choice but to fight.

“Nagle checked himself out of the hospital. On the way home he stopped at the liquor store. That night, after consuming nearly a full bottle of vodka, he bled to death from the throat. Bill Nagle, one of the greatest shipwreck divers of all time, the man who had taken the bell off of the Andrea Doria, was dead at forty-one.”

This quote highlights the tragedy of Nagle, a famous diver who was nonetheless unable to conquer his demons and succumbed to addiction. Isolated from the changing diving world, Nagle had grown bitter and increasingly relied on alcohol.

“And there she was. Lean and stealthy, her cigar-shaped hull grooved into the water at bow and stern, she appeared an eyebrow of the sea, raised for the moment to observe the curious.”

Descriptive imagery brings U-869 to life as it was when it embarked on its maiden voyage. This quote is a reminder that the U-boat was—at its time—a technological marvel, and its sailors were universally acknowledged as skilled and brave soldiers.

“In happier days, U-boat crews had enjoyed near-celebrity status during their off-duty hours, guests of honor at the liveliest nightclubs, desired dance partners for the area’s prettiest ladies. Now, U-869’s crew found many of the bars and nightclubs shuttered. Few felt like dancing anyway.”

The text underscores the demoralization of German forces toward the end of the war. They all knew that Germany would not win the war, and many had never supported Hitler or the Nazis in the first place. The U-boat sailors, aware that they were the favored targets of the Allied forces’ destroyers, did not expect to return home from their voyage.

“Kohler steeled his resolve and stayed out of diving. Between the cracks, he drip-fed his passions.”

The book describes Kohler’s gut-wrenching decision to walk away from diving in order to rebuild his family. Although Kohler was willing to give up his passion for his children, he could not excise it from his mind and instead started to hide his research from his wife.

“In his darkest moments, Chatterton brushed cheeks with the idea of quitting. He imagined a time in which he could run out for pizza or take his car for a spin without seeing the U-Who’s crushed control room before him, a time when he no longer wondered if he was who he hoped he was.”

This passage draws a parallel between Kohler’s struggles and Chatterton’s. Like Kohler, Chatterton could not truly leave the wreck behind, but his solution was not to walk away but to work harder at solving the problem. He continued to grapple with self-doubt as he encountered obstacles in his pursuit of truth.

“The plan’s dangers were encyclopedic, a textbook on how to get killed inside a shipwreck.”

This quote illustrates the daring strategy that Chatterton used to settle the question once and for all. Only a diver with his skills could hope to survive such a crazy plan, and even then, he had a significant chance of dying even if he made no mistakes at all.

“It’s what a person does at the moment of his greatest struggle that shows him who he really is.”

Chatterton repeated this internal mantra to himself as he made his final, daring move to retrieve a spare parts box from the motor room. He quelled his panic by reminding himself that his self-understanding was at stake.

“In his younger days, Kohler might have jumped for joy and slapped Chatterton on the back. Chatterton might have pumped his fists in triumph. Today, they looked into each other’s eyes. Then, simultaneously, neither one before the other, each extended his hand. The divers shook. Today, they had found something important. Today, they had their answers.”

This quote exemplifies the growth of both divers. They reflected on their attitudes at the beginning of exploring the wreck, and now found themselves more mature and less inclined to conflict. Each appreciated the other’s contributions. Their partnership made the discovery possible.

“The cataclysmic damage to U-869’s control room was almost certainly caused by a strike from its own torpedo.”

In the Epilogue, Kurson lays out his theory for what sank U-869. His belief that the malfunction of one of its own torpedoes caused its demise is bolstered by the specifics of the damage and the known phenomenon of “circle runners.”