Shadow Divers: John Chatterton's Interview with ScubaBoard

[Teamcasa]

Dave,

In all honesty, with so many great places to dive, I can't possibly pick one or two or three as my favorites?? Sorry?

JC

No worries, I'll get over it! I guess I'll just have to try and dive as many new places as possible and see if you are right!

 

[Buoyant1]

If I can't make this diving thing work one way or another, Plan B is the Golden Arches, so I better make pay attention??

If we ever need any Trekkies I will definitely give you a shout, first.

Oy...I could never work there I have this weakness for double quarter pounders with cheese!

Live long and prosper!

 

[rawls]

The wreck is aging, much like we all are?

Timewise...no doubt...Mentally I'm still going backwards...But as long as we keep that youthful spirit the china will still be there

Training went well. I think I am a new Meg certified diver??? I just don't have the card yet...
the manufacturers can't be in any way responsible for loose cannons such as me who drill, alter...

Congrats on the cert John...And be careful with that $20,000 piece of equipment...but I would rather you drill and alter than me....Bring it to NC when you get down again....

 

[jodomonk]

The documentary is called Hitler's Lost Sub and can be purchased on Amazon right along with Gentile's book...probably on the same page
There have been alot of very heated threads comparing Gentile's book with Shadow Divers. That may be why you haven't had alot of replies to this thread and I too will opt out of comment unless some of the Gentile proponents show up with their ridiculous comments/baseless accusations I know of one thread that was even pulled by Doc due to it's content of viscious name calling and accusations. Do a search and you can find several threads.

There is a thread titled reel versus no reel...something like that in the wreck diving sub forum, wreck exploration...It seems there are not very many proponents of progressive penetration. I would venture to say it's probably an 80/20 for/against.

I just finished Shadow Divers myself and was headed online to buy Gentile's rebuttal. The Amazon.com reviews stopped me in my track. While they stated that Gentile did point out a possibly more plausible explanation for how she sank, they said that most of the arguments regarding who performed CPR on who and who actually did what archive research was relatively pointless (at least for those reading it for the dive related material). They said the book overall was riddled with preschool framed arguments with poor english and grammatical structure. Most attacks seemed to be personal rather than academic.

As such, I am refraining from the book entirely. Instead I have picked up a few other readings including The Last Dive and Deep Descent (about the Andrea Doria). I also picked up the NOVA special, "Hitler's Lost Sub".

 

[ReefHound]

John,

You have always been one receptive to innovation in scuba technology where it made sense, i.e. new gas mixes and rebreather technology. Where do you foresee, or would like to see, scuba technology going in the future? Say near term such as 5-10 years and long term such 20 or more years.

 

[rawls]

John...

Went diving yesterday...I will give you one guess where

#1) The Hutton

#2) The Indra

I can't give you any other choices because we haven't been anywhere else in months. How many dives do you have on the Doria...Probably almost as close to the number you have on the Indra and Hutton

I wonder if all the other wrecks vanished and no one has told us...

Was still a good dive...Saw a nice rope so I decided someone could use it. It hadn't been there long. I started coiling it...and coiling it...and coiling it...Turns out it was about 100 feet of rope at the end of which was a new anchor. I didn't have a lift bag with me so I swam it up and that was a pretty sight with me trying to stay neutral...Not a piece of Doria china but a recovery nevertheless...which was fun...

Very overcast but it was a very smooth ride out and back...Viz about 30 feet which, as you know, is good for the...oops...almost gave it away. Doesn't help you because the viz at one is pretty much like the other...

Maybe one day we will get back to the sub or Papoose.

Hope you are doing well...

Bobby

 

[diverdowndh]

I just finished Shadow Divers myself and was headed online to buy Gentile's rebuttal.

As such, I am refraining from the book entirely.

I just finished Shadow Divers myself. I thought it was an excellent story, well written and very, very intriguing. I can't wait for my Cozumel trip in Feb so I can dive the Felipe and pretend I'm Chatterton, ha!
I agree, I see no reason to waste my time on any rebuttal of that great story. The reviews tear it up, so do people right here. And, with John C here on the board to clear up any misgivings, I see NO reason to spend money or time on the Exposed book. I'm now just starting The Last Dive, which already has me hooked!

 

[Geoff_H]

I have also just read Shadow Divers, which I got for Christmas. Despite being a voracious reader, this is only the second book ever that I have been unable to put down (literally). I started reading it about 10pm and finished it at 7am.

Thanks for wrecking my study schedule Robert Kurson!

I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the guys putting their lives on the line, extending the limits of diving and adopting new technologies. An awesome read, and I just wish I had the kind of dedication, focus and balls to dive a hundreth as well as Richie and John.

I have a question for John... in the engine room, on the dive you recovered the box with the identifying plate: the book talks about a pipe blocking the stack of boxes. You hit it with your sledgehammer and then you realise it's an oxygen cylinder.

At that point - having already had an recovered oxygen cylinder blow up your garage - you made the call to hit it again, in the certain knowledge an explosion/tank puncture would have killed you (and possibly Kohler waiting for you the other side of the obstruction?)

Can you tell me what went through your mind at that point, and was the book accurate in its depiction of this incident? All through the book I thought I could have justified doing everything the way you did, were I a super fit, super skilled, super confident and super brave diver... but I couldn't have taken a second swing at the oxygen cylinder!

 

[diverdowndh]

I know exactly what you mean, but I also thought after so many dives to that wreck and all that had to happen just to make a trip out there happen, I could see him chancing it. He was almost out of air, other people have died, just get an answer!
However, I do agree that it could have hurt Kohler outside, I thought the same thing and wondered about that part of his decision...

 

[Gombessa]

At that point - having already had an recovered oxygen cylinder blow up your garage - you made the call to hit it again, in the certain knowledge an explosion/tank puncture would have killed you (and possibly Kohler waiting for you the other side of the obstruction?)

Can you tell me what went through your mind at that point, and was the book accurate in its depiction of this incident? All through the book I thought I could have justified doing everything the way you did, were I a super fit, super skilled, super confident and super brave diver... but I couldn't have taken a second swing at the oxygen cylinder!

That's a great one. I would have taken a step back to think through that particular decision as well.