Friday, May 4, 2018

Shadow Divers

Book: Shadow Divers: 
The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : Good Quotes  : References

Basic Information:
Author: Robert Kurson
Edition: Hardback from the Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0965925072 (ISBN13: 9780965925075)
Start Date: April 28, 2018
Read Date: May 4, 2018
335 pages
Genre: History, World War II, Scuba Diving
Language Warning: Medium
Rated Overall: 3½ out of 5
History: 4 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
What is a wreck diver? It is a diver who finds, identifies helps to recover some of a ship-wreck.

That is what this story is about, where Bill Nagle, a legend in the sport of wreck-diving, but now out of shape for serious diving, receives the coordinates of a possible wreck from a “friendly” captain. He takes along John Chatterton and eleven other divers. Most of them figure that this will probably be a garbage barge, but you never know. When Chatterton went down, it was not a barge, but cigar shaped-a German sub. But the question was, which one?

A good section of the book deals with Kohler and Chatterton diving hoping to find some identification on the sub. The other part of the chase is talking with experts in the United States, Great Britain and Germany. They spent time in research archives and museums pondering possibilities.

In the meantime, their monomania-drive to dive and to determine the fate and identification of the sub leads to the breakup of both of Chatterton and Kohler’s marriages. Kohler comments on his blog that he was an comfortable with Kurson’s digging into this part of the story, but after seeing the results felt that it was part of the story.

Also, on two different dives three people died. The first because the diver experienced difficulties and sank without recovering. It was after this death that Kohler becomes part of the team. The second was a father/son team. The son tried to dislodge a barrier and became trapped. by the time he escaped, he was out of oxygen and ascended without decompression. The father gave chase and they both died because of nitrogen poisoning, the bends.

As Chatterton and Kohler narrow the focus of which sub has been found, they realize that history may have been written wrong. Eventually the sub changes from being known as U-Who to U-869. This is confirmed when Chatterton goes into an unexplored compartment after performing a dangerous maneuver and finds a tag on a box of spare parts.

After the confirmed identification has been made, neither Chatterton or Kohler go down to the sub again. Chatterton goes on to find other wrecks. Kohler is more interested in the family and friends of the men who were in in U-69. He was able to visit several of them.


Cast of Characters:
  • Bill Nagle-Innovative deep wreck diver. Becomes ship captain of the Seeker which is used to find U-869/ He does not do any of the dives to find the sub. Dies due to issues related to his drinking.
  • John Chatterton-Deep wreck diver who is the first to see the sub U-869. He makes many trips back to the sub over a space of 6-7 years until he can positively determine the sub’s identity.
  • Richie Kohler- A member of a renegade group called the Atlantic Wreck Divers, he started out not friendly towards Chatterton and vica versa. But when they recognized their mutual love of figuring out a wreck, they became close partners. Kohler and Chatterton were a team to discover the identify of U-869.

Thoughts:
There are place in this book which Kurson starts something and then drops it. Such as when the German embassy approaches them about this is a German boat and they are not to disturb it. There is only that one small section, but I do not think that Kurson puts it to bed.


Chapter One - The Book of Numbers
Bill Nagle had gotten a potential deep wreck site.He and John Chatterton tried to find twelve divers who would pay $100 to go out and explore some mysterious readings another ship captain had gotten on a trip. Unless there was a “sure” thing, many of the divers were not interested. Nagle remarked that These guys don’t have the heart for wreck diving John. These guys just don’t get it. Is this a unique situation? I backpackpack, sometimes long distances. How can I explain what I feel, what drives me, to others who do not participate?


Chapter Four - John Chatterton
In Vietnam, Chatterton was a medic. His job: save lives and limbs. On his first mission, some of his colleagues went down under enemy fire. Chatterton braved the enemy fire to rescue them, running exposed and hauling them away. Reflecting on this experience, he thought how full like felt when a person got to be excellent. There is a sense of satisfaction by doing things well. I saw this when I worked. Some people would give their fullest and some would try to get by with as little as possible. My observation is that those who gave the most enjoyed themselves the most.

Chatterton’s beliefs formed during this Vietnam experiences. Kurson synthesize them down to:
  • If something was easy, someone else already would have done it.
  • If you follow another’s footsteps, you missed the problems really worth solving
  • Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average
  • Sometimes life presents a great moment of decision, an intersection at which a man must decide to stop or go; person lives with these decisions forever
    • My corollary to this is one must also be prepared when these moments come
  • Examine everything; not all is as it seems or as people tell you.
  • It is easiest to live with a decision if it is based on an earnest sense of right and wrong.
  • The guy who gets killed is often the guy who is nervous
  • The worst possible decision is to give up.
In this chapter, Chatterton realizes that he was made for scuba diving/ He wondered how he had ever gone so long without knowing a man could get paid for diving. I think that when a person finds their true calling, their true vocation, they ask the question, And I get paid for this? At least that is what happened when I found out that I was pretty good as a computer programmer and that someone would actually pay me to work at what I enjoyed doing.


Chapter Eight - Nothing At That Location
Sometimes there can be wild speculation in the book. Such as is Hitler on the boat/ Was this the boat which he was trying to make his get away with? This is recognized as only speculation, nothing of substance. The question is how far a field does this speculation go? How far does it form the character of this book? Or is it just wonderings. I think it is more wondering than anything they were basing his thoughts on.


Chapter None - A Heavy Toll
After finding a human bone at the U-Who wreck, Chatterton and Kohler were faced with a moral dilemma. The question was, when they came across human remains, what do they do with them? The two of them worked through the issues surrounding this question. From the principle that the human remains should not be disturbed, they came up with five rules of engagement:
  • Respect the crewmen. The U-boat crew were sailors, doing a job and were trying to serve their own country.
  • Respect for the families. If they found something disturbing the bodies/bones, how do you talk with the families of the men?
  • Honor the brotherhood of the deep. While the divers were different than the submariners, there was enough similarities of the dangers that they understood the type of men who were in the sub.
  • Protect the wreck diver profession/avocation image. Their behavior would reflect on the sport.
  • Do the right thing. Don’t violat/dishonor the remains.

Chapter Ten - History Mauled
What is the measure of a person? Is it what a person thinks? What a person tries to be? Kohler and Chatterton thinks that most people do not get tested or even put themselves in a place where where they will have to understand their own character. Consequently, they do not really know themselves.


Chapter Thirteen - The U-Boat is Our Moment.
There is a couple of places where the name Gary Gentile comes up. Here it says that Gentile had thought that a different wreck was too busted up to identify. Chatterton was able to. Later on in the Appendix, Gary Gentile is given credit for explaining about the rivalries among boat captains. This is ionic because Gentile writes a book called Shadow Divers Exposed which calls into question Chatteron’s and Kohler’s explanation about how U-869 sank. Also what happened on deck after the Rouse’s died.

To continue on with the thought in chapter 10, When things are easy a person doesn’t really learn about himself. It’s what a person does at the moment of his greatest struggle that shows him who he really is. Some people never get that moment. Does this mean that a person should go out of their way to test their limits? I think that you cannot go out and risk your life without sufficient purpose. And that is where I think that is where most of us live-without sufficient purpose in life. What what I die for? Why am I living?


Epilogue
???Kurson says that circle-runners-torpedo’s which turn back on the sub where they are fired from-by their nature give little warning and bears no witness. Yet on the previous page Kurtson talks about how the radio person could tell it was coming and the captain has time to do a sharp dive. I think that the author left something unsaid or unqualified.

Not many divers go out to the U-869. The feeling is that the kind of divers who are capable are not interest. They just do not have the mindset for it.



Evaluation:
 As I was reading Shadow Divers, I thought this was an interesting book, a pretty good read, but not too much in it to think about. There are some interesting “heart” observations which come out of the book, like what are you doing which you really love and do with all your heart? Or What do you struggle for, really struggle which you want to achieve?


As far as the book goes, it is a good adventure book, pretty well written. For the most part, it is a book you can race through, enjoy, and put away.



Notes from my book group:
When Bill Nagle says to John Chatterton in chapter one, These guys don’t have the heart for wreck diving John. These guys just don’t get it. Why would wreck diving become such a strong fascination? What do people see in it? Is this a unique avocation? What other lines of interest are there where there are true participants where the participants feel others do not understand the devotion to that interest?

Chatterton and Kohler both think about what does it mean to be excellent? How does it play into their character? They think that When things are easy a person doesn’t really learn about himself. It’s what a person does at the moment of his greatest struggle that shows him who he really is. Some people never get that moment. When do these great moments which show your character comes along? How can one prepare for these great moments? How does that tie in with who you are?

Chatterton and Kohler after examining records come up with conjectures about what took place.It turns out that their conjectures were correct. How can we be sure that what we know from history actually took place? As a side bar, Chatterton and Kohler felt that U-869 was sunk because of a circle-running torpedo. Another diver has, Gary Gentile, has written a book called Shadow Divers Exposed! which refutes their conjecture. In 2005, the Coast Guard’s determination was that Hedgehogs and depth charges from the American destroyer escorts USS Howard D. Crow and USS Koiner sank U-869. Which is right?

If you were working the sub as Chatterton and Kohler were, what would you have done when you came across some human bones? What respect do the dead have?

What occupation, advocation or purpose would you risk your life for?


Questions from Penguin-Random House
1. Is there something you would risk everything — your family, sanity, and life – to discover?
2. Was it proper for Chatterton and Kohler to risk their lives, and the lives of others, by insisting that all divers allow the remains of the fallen U-boat sailors to remain undisturbed?
3. Chatterton and Kohler lost their marriages to their quest to identify the U-Who. Was it worth it?
4. Why weren’t Chatterton and Kohler bothered more by the German sailors’ mission — namely, to sink Allied ships and kill American sailors?
5. Do you think the U-Who’s crewmen would have appreciated the efforts of Chatterton and Kohler to identify their submarine and explain their story?
6. The German government told Chatterton that all requests by scuba divers to explore sunken German war graves had been denied. Chatterton politely explained his intentions, then dove the wreck of the U-Who anyway. Was this morally acceptable?
7. Gisela Engelmann dearly loved her fiance, U-869 torpedoman Franz Nedel, despite Nedel’s fervent commitment to Hitler and Nazi ideals – and despite the fact that the Nazis had imprisoned both his father and Engelmann’s father. Could you love someone whose political beliefs were abhorrent to you?
8. Despite claustrophobic conditions, many Germans preferred submarine service to army ground service, where they might find themselves dug into trenches and dodging enemy bullets. Which would you opt for?
9. Given the grave danger of Chatterton’s final plan to dive the wreck of the U-Who, should Kohler have stuck to his first instinct and refused to accompany Chatterton?
10. Chatterton did not attend the funeral of his dear friend, Bill Nagle. He never completely explains the decision. Why do you think he didn’t attend Nagle’s funeral?
11. Divers continue to debate the ethics of removing artifacts from shipwrecks. When is it proper to take artifacts from wrecks? Are there circumstances under which artifacts should never be disturbed? Does your answer change if there are human remains onboard?
12. Chatterton seemed emotionally ready for the Rouses to identify the U-Who. But he seemed incapable of accepting the possibility of a “greenhorn” diver doing the same. Why?
13. Kohler gave up diving for two years in an effort to keep his family together. Can a person ever surrender his true passion and hope to live a happy and fulfilled life?
14. Did the discovery of the U-Who hasten Bill Nagle’s demise?
15. Given the intentions of the crewmen aboard U-869 — to attack and kill Allied ships — do you think the book treated them too kindly?


Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of Shadow Divers?
  • Does this story work as a historical account? Factually?
  • Did the ending seem fitting? Did Kohler visit any other family or friends beside the ones mentioned?
  • Which character did you identify with? Which one did you dislike?
  • What kind of world view did the author, divers present? Were you able to identify this story’s world view? How did it affect the story?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “take aways” did you have from this book?
  • How did this book affect your view of the world?
    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?


Good Quotes:
    • First Line: A few years ago, a friend told me a remarkable story.
    • Last Line: “Thank you for coming here.”
    • When things are easy a person doesn’t really learn about himself. It’s what a person does at the moment of his greatest struggle that shows him who he really is. Some people never get that moment. Chp Chapter Thirteen - The U-Boat is Our Moment.


    References:

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