This was one of three books given to me on Father’s Day, and it’s a good one.

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 is the tale of two divers and a U-boat sunk late in the second world war. Over the course of several years, the divers bring back items that give a clue as to the submarine’s identity, but most of the definitive items have been corroded away in the seawater. It isn’t until one of the divers makes the most dangerous dive of his lifetime: 200 feet deep with one scuba tank, using a sledgehammer to clear obstructions, that they are able to identify this U-boat which had been patrolling our shores off of New Jersey.

The book reads like a detective novel. After bringing back Nazi china from the sub but no pieces unique to the submarine, John Chatterton (who hosted a Nova show on this: Hitler’s Lost Sub) and Richie Kohler delve into records from Germany, Great Britain, and the United States to try and figure out any way this sub can be identified. Baffling their search is the fact that no official records from any sources listed a U-boat in the area off of New Jersey. A knife with a last name provides a clue, but the records show the sub with that person sank off the coast of Gibraltar.

Records weren’t the only difficulty. The sub at 200 feet makes for dangerous dives, and we get details. Two divers in Chatteron’s crew panic and surface too suddenly, and they are killed from “the bends”, when the extra nitrogen that has to be pumped into divers to keep their lungs from imploding bubbles up in blood vessels and rips open capillaries. Narcosis sets in after 20 minutes, again from so much nitrogen, magnifying the least concern into panic that can get one killed.

Another difficulty for the divers was the effect of their relentless work on their family life. Chatteron and Kohler’s wives eventually leave them, unconvinced of the divers’ need to identify the wreck and notify kin of those in the sub. Kohler even tries to go to counseling with his wife, who gives him the ultimatum to stop diving. The unmarked grave kills his conscience. Yet another difficulty lies in trying to identify the sub before someone jumps the claim and makes off with a lucky find.

After the sub is finally identified, the book gives a tale of the sub’s last mission, and how it ended up near Jersey instead of Gibralter. It is a tale of a submarine whose captain was loyal to his country but not necessarily the Nazi Party. Even when the military is ordered to give the Nazi salute, Captain Nuremburg directs his men to give the original salute on his boat.

This book is a captivating read. There is significant drama in the mulling over of possible U-boats and in the present danger of deep diving operations. The sub claims its share of lives by panic and accident. The morals of the divers are also tested, as they decide not to bring back the bones of Nazi soldiers. The book has color and B/W pictures. I recommend this book to everyone.