Shadow Divers

The True Adventure of Two Remarkable Men Who Solved An Incredible Second World War Mystery

By: Robert Kurson

Brought to you by Penguin.

The remarkable true story of two amateur divers who discover a World War Two German U-Boat sunk 60 miles off the eastern coast of America

In 1991, 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey, at the incredible depth of 230 feet underwater, two amateur divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, find what divers dream about: an undisturbed wreck that they soon identify as a German U-boat.

But there is no official record of this warship, and no historian or government can solve the puzzle. So this unlikely duo and their team of daredevil divers embark on a perilous quest: to identify the shadowy vessel who they've nicknamed 'U-Who'. But plunging into the murky depths raises its own questions, and not everybody will make it back to the surface.

After years of increasingly risky diving, painstaking archival research, and gaining the trust of retired U-boat crew, the team finally identify it as U-869 and work out what on earth it’s doing there. But Chatterton and Kohler, whose rivalry has turned to friendship won't stop there. In an ending worth of a Steven Spielberg film, they decide to trace the families of the men who died on U-869, the men whose bones they agreed they wouldn't disturb.

It’s a story of – among other things – persistence, ingenuity and a shared obsession…

'This book is a work of art' RYAN HOLIDAY
'A pulse-quickening real-life thriller' New York Times
'A memorable story, beautifully told' The Times

© Robert Kurson 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critic reviews

The narrative is so well paced and constructed that it develops a hypnotic, almost suffocating tension … But it is far more than mere adventure; this is also a haunting, painful story of obsession and its attendant costs. For once, the comparisons with The Perfect Storm are not out of place; this is a memorable story, beautifully told. (Neil Hanson)

This book is a work of art. A diver (whose life principles we can all learn from) and a ship captain find the wreck of an unknown German U-Boat in 1991…on the coast of New Jersey. That’s a thing? Apparently. And they spend the next five years diving the wreck 230+ feet underwater until they identify it. This book is narrative nonfiction writing at its finest. Please read. (Ryan Holiday)

An engrossing saga of the suspenseful, intriguing, and dangerous underwater investigation of a Mystery U-boat. (Clive Cussler)

A gripping account of real-life adventurers and a real-life mystery. In addition to being compellingly readable on every page, the book offers a unique window on the deep, almost reckless nature of the human quest to know. (Scott Turow)

A tremendously suspenseful story of discovery that comes as close as any book could to providing the reader with approximate sensations of deep sea diving and of life on a submarine at war, and that leaves us with a hell of an impression of the grit, guts, and compassion of a U-boat crew and the two American divers who risked everything to solve the mystery of their last mission. (John McCain)

A winning tale exceedingly well told, Shadow Divers takes us on a dangerous and seemingly quixotic descent into the murk–and then, in a fog of nitrogen narcosis, brings us back to the surface with a richer, fuller fathoming of a history we only thought we knew. (Hampton Sides)

A pulse-quickening real-life thriller … written with great you-are-there intensity and dynamic verve.

Shadow Divers is not only a gripping adventure story, but a tale of dogged persistence and growing friendship. Mr. Kurson vividly captures the hazardous world of diving and the competition and camaraderie of the divers themselves.

An extraordinary, page-turning tale of undersea adventure, in which the relentless quest to explore and identify a sunken U-boat is not just about the technicalities of diving but about what drives us on and where the boundaries lie. (David Gibbins, author of A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks)