[JohnK]

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Just finished Deep descent by kevin McMurray and found it a very good read.

basically its about the deep diving done on the Andrea Doria, more pertinantly the deaths and competition involved. These guys are interesting to say the least. The following summarises the book quite well....

"Ormsbys legs were wrapped in cable. His arms were fully extendedin the rogor mortis pose. Bielenda conferred with a diver who was a vetenarian, who told him the arms could be bent then tied to the torso. Blood was in Ormsbys mask, and a bloody froth was coming from his mouth. Once the body was stuffed in a sleeping bag and the deck washed of blood, everyone relaxed. All aboard made more dives on the wreck....."

I found this book to be addictive but wondered whether our UK deep divers have read it and want to comment on it.

My admiration goes to those folk who do this but I found it strange that so many died due to basic errors given the training level etc.

Also read Fatal Depth which covers the same territory but it was no where near as good as Deep descent

Merry Xmas all

 

[Reeve]

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<font color='#000F22'>Kirky,

I agree with you I started reading it boxing day & finished it a 4ish am. Didn't want to go to bed until i'd finished. This was preceeded by reading "the last dive" on xmas day. No guesses how I came by the books.

They we're both very interesting books, however the overriding theme of misadventure and death in both books was a little disturbing. Not diving in the >60m range myself, I can not comment, but a lot of the mistakes seemed to be rudementary *uck up's by todays thinking and standards.

The spirit and determination of the guys in the books (most of whom have died diving) was unquestionable. To dive to the Doria on a set of twins with no buoyancy compensator, just using the anchor line and some of the other exploits on the wrecks and in the Florida cave systems are "pushing the envelope" but I guess these we're the pioneers and some of the inspirational persons we have to be thankful too for our high quality of equipment and understanding of the hazards we face.

Back to the left over turkey. Merry xmas all and a happy new year.


gareth

 

[Diving Dude]

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Snap.
Got both books as prezzies.

Just started reading The Last Dive, now that tomorrows dive is cancelled l will continue reading the book.

 

[Mary]

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<font color='#000080'>have just placed my order on amazon with my christmas book voucher thingys, i look foward to a good read (if it's anyway half as good as the last dive I'll be a happy bunny)