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Fatal Depth by Joe Haberstroh
Fatal Depth by Joe Haberstroh
Fatal Depth tells the tale of the deaths of five divers over the space of two summer seasons from the same Montuak dive vessel, the Seeker. These deaths occurred during dives on the Andrea Doria, one of the most challenging shipwrecks on Earth.
Written with a reporter's eye for a thumping good story (author Joe Haberstroh is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who works for a Long Island paper), there is a dreadfully fatalistic feel to each chapter as the small details of each diver's life are chronicled leading up to their final dive.
This is far more than a literary snuff movie, however, as it throws up some fascinating issues about the morality of diving these deep wrecks and the risks taken by the individual divers. The book initially presents the Andrea Doria divers as the elite of the sport, diving supermen, with one telling passage early in the book noting that 'the rules (of diving), which aren't enforced by any law or regulation anyhow, don't apply to these divers.'
What unfolds over the rest of the book, as divers meet their end through oxygen toxicity hits, disorientation and fatally flawed judgment driven by artefact fever, shows just how much the rules apply to every diver, regardless of qualification patches or experience.
Add some fiendishly bad luck for the Seeker as at least two of the divers seem to succumb to pre-existing medical conditions, and the results speak for themselves.
This new softback edition is a well-written account of the stuff of diving nightmares, a lonely death in the dark heart of a giant shipwreck, and is a horribly compelling read for any level of diver.
Monty Halls
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| Fatal Depth by Joe Haberstroh (Aquapress, ISBN 1585744573). Softback, 250pp, £9.99 |
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