Review
Kurson brings
considerable journalistic experience to his debut book, which combines the
derring-do of a great modern-day adventure story with a 60 year old
mystery. In other words, it's a book that can be enjoyed by a much wider
audience than diving buffs (just as '
Into Thin Air' isn't just for
climbers).
In 1991 John Chatterton and Rich Kohler, two deep-sea
wreck divers, found an unidentified German submarine lying at 230 feet off
the coast of New Jersey. Their seven year task of identifying what
they found took them to Germany and Washington and, of course, to the
darkest corners of the submarine. If you want to know exactly what
they found, you'll have to read the book - I'm not going to spoil it for
you!
230 feet...
Beyond the Book
The partial pressure of nitrogen in compressed air below a
certain depth causes a mental state similar to being drunk, known as nitrogen
narcosis.
Decompression syndrome or nitrogen embolism, also known as 'the bends', is
caused because nitrogen bubbles form in the bloodstream and tissues of the body
at depth. If a diver surfaces too quickly the bubbles don't have time to
dissolve which can cause extreme pain, paralysis and death. To avoid this
divers must surface slowly.
Because of issues such as these, deep diving requires mixing oxygen with other
gases such as helium. Although these mixes are not without their own
issues.
