Some questions after reading "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson

[AC26XP]

Finished reading Shadow Divers and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now granted, I have not read many books on wreck-diving and/or the hunt for submerged wrecks, but it immediately seems to me from the accolades it has received and the technical exposition within that it could be what Wolfe's The Right Stuff is to the early space program, what Melville's Moby Dick is to whaling, or what Mason's Chickenhawk is to the Vietnam helicopter war: that definitive novel/biography.
And just like Wolfe's The Right Stuff controversial description and portrayal of Chuck Yeager, and the Mercury astronauts, Shadow Divers "could" also have its fair share of he-said-she-said political revisionist history.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book for what it was (despite controversial character portrayal), a trip to discover and explore a sunken submarine.

Now to my questions (which having zero to do with the politics and character portrayal):

1) Pages 105-112 recount how Steve Feldman had lost his life while on a dive to the sub. The diving death is reported and the Coast Guard orders the dive boat to Manasquan, NJ, but from that point on there is no follow-up in the book concerning the details of the Coast Guard investigation.
Surpringsly, a short 8-days later the dive boat and main characters are heading back out to the sub.
Is this standard SOP for a Coast Guard investigation? Would the Coast Guard suspend Captain and dive boat activities while an investigation was in progress...? Granted, there were several diver deaths connected with exploring the sub, and maybe subsequent investigations and Coast Guard SOP are side-stories and not relevant to the main plot, but I would like to have learned how diver death investigations are carried out.

2) Per the book, during dive seasons '94-'95, Chatterton takes a break from exploring the sub and goes about discovering other wrecks (Norness, Sebastian, S.S. Carolina, Texel). Maybe one or two lines with Shadows Divers gives general description as to how Chatterton specifically knew where to dive for these sunken wrecks.
I like the explanation in Shadows Divers of getting the fisherman's "numbers" that led to finding the lost sub, but there has to be more technical approaches to knowing where to start looking.
Are there any books out there that go into detail as to how these guys know where to start looking? I am not looking for a book on technical wreck-diving, just looking for suggested reading on the details of finding wrecks. Shadow Divers mentions Henry Keatts' Complete Wreck Diving: A Guide to Diving Wrecks, but Amazon and reviews describe it more as a companion piece to a wreck-diving course. I am interested in the "this is the why's and the how's as to why I dropped anchor here" explanations. Unless, Keatts' book has a detailed chapter(s) on the subject.

Happy diving,
AC

 

[Avonthediver]

Brother you need to read some ...or all of the book's by Gary Gentile.

His book called "SHADOW DIVERS EXPOSED" is a hole story unto itself.

 

[JKPAO]

Whole or hole?
See you topside! John

 

[Tortuga68]

Both. It's all about the politics & character portrayal that the OP wasn't interested in. Pointless read about a major case of sour grapes IMO

 

[Scott L]

Both. It's all about the politics & character portrayal that the OP wasn't interested in. Pointless read about a major case of sour grapes IMO

Agreed. Self-published via the vanity press route by a very jealous man...

 

[Scott L]

2) Per the book, during dive seasons '94-'95, Chatterton takes a break from exploring the sub and goes about discovering other wrecks (Norness, Sebastian, S.S. Carolina, Texel). Maybe one or two lines with Shadows Divers gives general description as to how Chatterton specifically knew where to dive for these sunken wrecks.
I like the explanation in Shadows Divers of getting the fisherman's "numbers" that led to finding the lost sub, but there has to be more technical approaches to knowing where to start looking.
Are there any books out there that go into detail as to how these guys know where to start looking? I am not looking for a book on technical wreck-diving, just looking for suggested reading on the details of finding wrecks. Shadow Divers mentions Henry Keatts' Complete Wreck Diving: A Guide to Diving Wrecks, but Amazon and reviews describe it more as a companion piece to a wreck-diving course. I am interested in the "this is the why's and the how's as to why I dropped anchor here" explanations. Unless, Keatts' book has a detailed chapter(s) on the subject.

Not sure if there is any good reads on Robert Ballard's work, but the book, Blind Man's Bluff on US Navy submarine espionage, includes lengthy sections on US Navy's Dr. Robert Kraven's spectacular exploits in locating downed US Submarines during the cold war.

Amazon.com: Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story Of American Submarine Espionage (9781891620089): Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Lawrence Drew: Books

 

[Avonthediver]

Whole or hole?
See you topside! John

Yep its "hole"

I have a few of his book's and I love Shadow Divers so when I found out G.G. was putting out his version I had to pick it up.
And from what I have read over the years these guys have been frenemy's for time on end!

I would love to get all of these diver's from "Shadow Divers" ta "Deep Descent" in one room on Jerry Springer and let them go at it...I think it would be one hell of a show!

 

[AC26XP]

It's all about the politics & character portrayal that the OP wasn't interested in.

Correct.
Egos do nothing but silt the water.
Like I mentioned in my initial post, I realize the politics exist and was hoping to cut through the chaff and make it a non sequitur.

My questions still remain to anyone willing to share non-emotional answers...

Happy diving,
AC

Not sure if there is any good reads on Robert Ballard's work, but the book, Blind Man's Bluff on US Navy submarine espionage, includes lengthy sections on US Navy's Dr. Robert Kraven's spectacular exploits in locating downed US Submarines during the cold war.

Amazon.com: Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story Of American Submarine Espionage (9781891620089): Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Lawrence Drew: Books

Thanks Scott L !

 

[Wookie]

So, to answer the original questions.

1. Does the Coast Guard shut down the operation during the investigation? Only if the investigator thinks that the operator is a threat to the safety of his passengers. When an incident occors on a vessel (Loss of propulsion, loss of steering, injury requiring medical attention beyond first aid, fatality, allision or collision), a 3 page form (CG-2692, google is your friend) must be submitted to the Coast Guard detailing the fects of the matter at hand. In addition, all watchstanders on duty at the time of the incident must be drug and alcohol tested. These investigations take a month to 6 months to complete, especially in the case of a fatality because the coroners/Medical Examiners report is a part of the investigation. By the way, these investigations are NEVER made public, including to the owner/master of the vessel in question. The owner/master is only informed of any corrective action to be taken. Shutting down a dive operator for a month to 6 months would be a death sentence to the operator, and the Coast Guard is smart enough to know that if a diver dies while diving, there is only a very slim chance that it is the boat operators fault. If the Coast Guard needs to interview the operator/master for the investigation, they make arrangements to do so when the vessel is in port.

2. How do wreck divers find wrecks, because surely fishermen don't know where they are. Well, actually, we ask the fishermen. They know where they are. Fish hang out on structure, not on flat featureless bottom. Structure includes wrecks, rock piles, ledges, garbage, artificial junk placed to give fish a home, etc. Fishermen go where the fish are. Most fishermen have no idea what is down there unless it's showing up on their sounder as a wreck. I can tell (usually) a wreck from a pile of boulders from a ledge on my sounder, and if I really want good data, I rent a side scan sonar. Fishermen are loath to give up their numbers, because they trust no one not to give up their numbers to another fisherman. All of my Gulf of Mexico numbers (I have over 25,000 of them, some are confirmed wrecks, some are garbage) came from a shrimp boat captain who owed me money. He gave me his entire hang log, and I'm just scratching the surface. I was able to take the hang log, and with some other data, find a turn of the century tugboat that sunk in 180 feet of water not too far from the Dry Tortugas this spring. I gave those numbers to a wreck diver friend of mine and he found the tug the first hour of looking, dove it, confirmed the numbers for me, and I ran a charter to it this summer. If you want to know where the wrecks are, ask a fisherman. I've been looking for wrecks for 15 years, and I finally got someone to give me their hang book after 15 years of asking. Good luck to you.

 

[Wookie]

A little more (I re-read the question) on the diver death question. No one investigates diver deaths. Divers die, it's kind of like rock climbers and sky divers. Usually rock climbers fall, so do sky divers. Scuba divers drown, or have heart attacks. The Coast Guard is only interested in the safety of the vessel, as in, did someone or something on the boat contribute to the divers accident. Since we are a liveaboard, the Coast Guard may ask us for the latest air analysis if we filled the diver's cylinder, they may even get someone to test the gas in the cylinder if any is left. If the diver was not on the boat when they died, it is unlikely that the Coast Guard will look any farther.

Now, the grieving widow may push the ME/Coroner to investigate further. After all, she has no-one to sue if the boat wasn't at fault. It couldn't be that the diver died because she had fed him bacon and eggs every morning for the 35 years they were married. I am a confirmed bacon and eggs eater, BTW. Anyway, there is no central repository for these investigations, there is no standard for diver fatality autopsies, and most of the anecdotal stories you will hear are miles from what really happened anyway. In our litigious society, the truth is no one's friend.

Please forgive my cynicism. I'm not trying to be crappy to you. I find that diver fatalities are like burning cars on the highway. No one slows down to help, but they all slow down to gawk. Gawkers do nothing constructive except slow down progress.