Customer Reviews

Submerged

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I think people of any age who enjoy adventure writing or history will like this book, which recounts the tales of a National Park ranger/diver. His job, along with his team, for more than twenty years, was to map underwater wrecks and preserve the sites for exploration by future divers. Along the way, he seems to have had a really good time. There is an interesting story in each chapter.

I am planning to give the book as a graduation gift to my nephew as I think he will enjoy, as I did, the stories about the joys and mortal perils of cave-diving in Florida, mapping wrecks in the Great Lakes in body-chilling 34-degree water, and close encounters with the slow moving - - but potentially deadly - - lion fish in Micronesia.

I also enjoyed chapters that show the author's awareness of the benefits and drawbacks of age in a young person's sport. I haven't gone diving in the English Channel - - 170 feet deep - - to explore a confederate wreck (the Alabama, which sank off Cherbourg, France, in 1864), but I could identify with the author when he realizes that his eyesight isn't, umm, quite as good as it used to be:

"As the dive progressed, however, I found myself coming face to face with my own aging process. At depth, I usually enjoyed the advantage that experience grants older divers. I could feel smug as I watched younger and stronger men make those myriad little judgment mistakes to which I am not as prone - having already made most of them myself during a quarter century of mucking about in deep water. Depth was, in a sense, the great equalizer. Then, without breaking our pace over the bottom, I reflexively reached for my gauge console and brought it to my face for a routine check of elapsed time and remaining air pressure. I couldn't read it."

By the way, the author copes with this difficulty on the next dive (magnifying glass inside the goggles).

Also, if you are browsing through the book, I recommend reading the chapter about diving at the site of the USS Arizona. The author, at first trying to keep his distance, gradually comes to terms with his feelings about the ship and the thousand or so young men who lost their lives on one bright day in Pearl Harbor.

Sometimes it's hard to tell by the title what a book is all about. "Submerged -- Adventures of America's Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team" certainly sounds interesting, but I wasn't quite sure about to the exact nature of the volume. Turns, out it is the recollection of the founder and former chief of the United States National Park Service Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, a group of National Park Service divers, scientists and other professionals seeking to document and catalog shipwrecks. The "SCRU team" is thus a legitimate part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, yet it is one that's about as far removed from stereotypical deskbound civil service as one can imagine. Over a period of 25 years, author Daniel Lenihan created and crafted a team of divers whose skills and sense of adventure was second to none, yet also a group that combined astonishing underwater feats with a keen sense of archeological and anthropological imperatives.

Lenihan describes his own introduction to cave diving as one of the pioneers who developed and advanced the state of the art when the sport was young and so many died in their often ill-conceived pursuits that the government considered closing off the Florida cave systems. Like most divers, young Lenihan was intrigued by finding and recovering artifacts but, unlike most, he quickly discovered that removing them meant destroying perhaps their most intrinsic value, that of learning from the past, the setting where they were found, the condition they and their surroundings were in. In the early 1970s he studied anthropology at the University of Florida, then joined the National Park Service as a "Park Ranger/Archeologist." Lenihan's quest essentially became a fight against the mindless destruction of shipwreck sites by treasure and artifact hunters by finding and documenting them so they could be properly protected as national cultural resources, just like those above ground.

The book, divided into three parts ("Caves, Dams, Shipwrecks, and Dreams;" "The SCRU Team;" and "Reaching Out") and 22 chapters, documents Lenihan's lifelong quest, their early missions, and how his team's influence and reputation grew until it was called to work in all parts of the world, often in conjunction with the US Navy and other governmental entities. We learn about the development of underwater surveying techniques, ranging from simple measuring and triangulation all the way to sophisticated high-tech scanning and mapping systems later on.

Lenihan describes such diverse operations as diving the frigid waters around Isle Royale (a national park in Lake Superior) to map and document the wealth of shipwrecks surrounding it; to doing the first actual underwater survey of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor; to locating wrecks around Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico; to potentially hazardous dives to the USS Saratoga at the bottom of Bikini Atoll that was used for nuclear tests in the 1940s and 50s; to discoveries around Micronesian islands. He describes almost impossible-to-get-to excursions into Kauhako Crater on Molokai; underwater searches in the Aleutians where tactical side-maneuvers had played a large role in the outcome of the more major seabattles of WW II; grisly rescue and recovery missions in poorly accessible locations where even Navy divers deferred; and making sure French divers properly surveyed and protected a sunken Confederate raider, the CSS Alabama, in the English Channel off the coast of France. Learning, developing, training, passing on always figure large in Lenihan's work, as does a healthy respect of the dangers of diving, and the ensuing meticulous preparation and following of diving protocol and procedures. There are many other examples, all wonderfully described in Lenihan's style that merges good storytelling with precise technical information and always a nod of appreciation towards those who helped him and his team, plus a good deal of pride in their accomplishments.

"Submerged" presents all of this in a holistic way -- recollections, experiences, reports, suggestions. Lenihan includes adventures of his youth, including cave diving trips to Mexico with such pioneers as Sheck Exley who later perished in one of the very caves they had explored, as well as hopes for the future.

This is a book about diving both as a passion and as a tool for the greater good of mankind, in this instance the preservation of underwater heritage. "My conviction, which has emerged from thirty years of diving, is that shipwrecks and underwater caves are places where one can touch the past in the most special ways," writes Lenihan who also described himself as someone who once "associated with professors and students who thought SDS, SNCC, and Abbie Hoffman were too damn conservative." Out of that counter-cultural mindset grew a sense of responsibility for our submerged heritage, and the drive to make it real, that sets a shining example of what can be accomplished when passion and purpose merge in a career, and that fortunate synthesis Lenihan successfully shares in this eminently readable and highly recommendable book.

SCRU is now the Submerged Resources Center of the National Park Service. Its website at http://home.nps.gov/applications/submerged/ contains a wealth of interesting materials, including additional materials and images of many of the SCRU projects described in the book. Some detailed reports are availabled as PDF files at http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/hisnps/submerged.htm -- C. H. Blickenstorfer, scubadiverinfo.com

I am an experienced technical diver and was fascinated with that aspect of this book. Mr. Lenihan is indeed a good story teller. I wouldn't be caught dead doing some of the dives that they did on air-- but then again they were diving years ago when no mixed gasses were easily available. I feel that I have the right to take souvenirs from shipwrecks if I've gone to the trouble and expense to get to them and they're going to just corrode away in the sea. But Mr. Lenihan makes his points about preservation without being obnoxious and self-righteous and I like that. He made me think enough about the value of these wrecks that even though I'll probably still take small souvenirs, my newly informed conscience would keep me from taking anything too nice. Don't buy this book if you want to know the best and safest ways to deep dive or cave dive. I'm not saying they aren't real good divers but they dive with air and a prayer. Still, in all, I really enjoyed it.

Submerged is not only the title of the book but describes my feeling when reading it. Lenihan took me on a deep journey. I'm only an amateur diver but the simple clarity of the writing allowed to me a glimpse into the professional side of underwater work. The book was compelling but I must say at times I was uneasy-there was a dark side to even the lighter narratives. He and his diving team had some of the most frightening and even bizarre experiences I've ever read about and ones I personally would not find worth the risks. Nevertheless I must give them credit for such extreme dedication to historic preservation. I read the book over three evenings and most enjoyed the personal stories. My husband found the same book interesting for very different reasons. He was most interested in the history and romance of the shipwrecks.

An engaging, articulate,and suspenseful writer, Dan Lenihan shows the often daring and dangerous side of being an underwater park ranger. Not dry in the least, Submerged took me to eerie and beautiful underwater places I'd never have the courage to go myself but find fascinating. Often self-deprecating but never the egotist, Lenihan brought me into his inner circle to share the experience and the history of each place in wonderful detail. While they clearly had a lot of fun, Dan and his fellow rangers should be taken as seriously as the archaelogists on land uncovering Egyptian tombs or finding dinosaur bones. While many of the sites he discusses in Submerged are off limits to the public, Dan also wrote a handy Fodors book called "Underwater Wonders of the National Parks" which is a diving and snorkeling guide to areas open to the public. I'll be recommending Submerged to my diving and non-diving friends.

I realy enjoyed Submerged. I found my self not being able to put the book down. Lenihan explains the importance of saving our submereged historical artifacts as well as those of other nations. I am a History Major as well as a Diver. This book has both of the two worlds. I would recomend this book to anyone interested in diving or history.

I purchased the book after listening to Mr. Lenihan on the "Lanigan and Malone" show here in Cleveland. I just do some occasional sport diving in the Caribbean but this book opened a new world for me--one I think I'd rather read about than enter. The underwater archeology on some of the modern wrecks, particularly around Isle Royale was the most interesting to me but I had never thought about the diversity of underwater environments on this planet including caves and reservoirs. The book was more intense than I expected and some of the scenes doing the park ranger work of recovering divers were very chilling but realistic. I would recommend the book to anyone, diver or non-diver though I might be careful with younger readers due to the realistic portrayals of the rescues. It has given me a whole new appreciation for the park service.

I highly recommend this book about underwater archeology. My previous experience with archeology was Harrison Ford and the pursuit of the holy grail. The author's intriguing account of his career, from exploring a Civil War submarine to Pearl Harbor, reaffirms my belief that archeology is one of the most fascinating professions in research. It's a whole new world underneath those ocean waters. Give this book a chance, and you'll be submerged in a good read.

Submerged: Adventures Of America's Most Elite Underwater Archaeology Team by professional diver and archaeologist Daniel Lenihan is the amazing story of the award-winning Submerged Cultural Resources Unit team of the U.S. National Park Service. Lenihan guides the reader on an incredible tour of the team's finds and the archaeological work accomplished from 1975 down to the present day. In their bid to retrieve the bodies of drowned divers, recover lost artifacts, survey Isle Royale shipwrecks in Lake Superior, and so much more, Submerged provides archaeology students and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in underwater archaeology an incredible window into real-life archaeological adventures.

Some of the characters in this true tale of the submerged cultural resources unit will become folk heroes if the world reads this book. "Submerged" reels you in with compelling writing about history, archeology, respect for our resources, and most of all, true adventure. It's "INTO THIN WATER". The best surprise is that Lenihan, a scientist and government employee, is witty. He loves the ocean and respects his colleagues but never gets mawkish. This is a wonderful book.