The Mystery of U-869

The central theme of "Shadow Divers" is the search for the identity of the mysterious German U-boat discovered by Bill Nagle, John Chatterton and others. Kurson constructs the story like a mystery, leading the reader along with the deductions by the main figures even when those deductions later turn out to be incorrect.

The first question that is resolved is the origin of the sub. It is identified as a German Nazi U-boat by a piece of china found in one of the early dives with the Nazi swastika emblem and the date 1942. Another tantalizing clue is the steel dinner knife with a wooden handle carved with the name "Horenburg." Military records show only one Horenburg is assigned to a German U-boat, the U-869. The divers have the answer to their biggest question early on, but they dismiss it because official records list U-869 as...