Product Description

On a dense, foggy evening in July of 1956, the Italian cruise liner Andrea Doria, bound for New York, was struck broadside by another cruiseship, killing 51 people. Although she now rests silently on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, nearly a half-century later the Doria continues to take lives (twelve since 1981). Yet a small, fanatical group of scuba divers continues to challenge her, pushing themselves far beyond the limits of recreational divers, to the very limits of human endurance. In DEEP DESCENT, Kevin F. McMurray, author and veteran Doria diver, takes readers inside this elite club of men and women who dare to go deeper, farther and close to the edge than prudence of common sense might allow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21687 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Kevin F. McMurray is an award-winning journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in such prestigious newspapers and magazines as The New York Times, New York magazine, Outside, Yankee, Men's Journal, The Sunday Times, Rock & Ice, Cigar Aficionado and many others.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating but morbid
A book I genuinely read in a day. The Andrea Doria was the flagship passenger liner of the Italian fleet - I hate to say the Titanic of the Italian passenger liner business but that is the nearest cliche.

The book is on the face of it the history of deep sea diving of the wreck, which to quote another cliche is the 'Everest' of diving challenges - dangerously deep to you and me hence the title. The theme of the book is a history of the people who have dived the wreck and brought up various artefacts - mainly china, especially the people who have met a gruesome end in the process. Yes it is a history of death in the pursuit of the ultimate diving challenge and anyone who has entered the fantasy land of diving for hidden treasure who read this book will happily tear up their amature padi certficates.

The suspense of the history of the divers, exceptionally professional ones, who have met their end is truely gripping as the book drives home how easy one slight mistake has taken the life of such professionals. Usually for one reason - greed, but greed for that inanimate object that may elude them for another year or so. To compound the morbid nature of the book there is reproduced the waiver potential divers must sign with respect to their claim on any expedition leader is reproduced in full as an appendix!

An interesting aside to the book is that it details the dispute between the two principal boats who ferry hopeful divers (oassionally to the fate) to the site. Quite simply certain divers are loyal to one boat, they fall out and become loyal to another.

What the book lacks is depth in the history of the actual boat itself, but in its defence that is not what the book about. Mercifully to someone such as myself whose nearest deep diving experinence was Ivan Draper holding my head below the water for what seemed like 10 minutes at Spence Street baths in Leicester in 1979 when I was 7, the book is not overloaded with diving jargon or technicality.

One fascinating theme of the ships history, which is only very briefy touched upon is the myth (or is true) that one of the safes on the ship was carrying a vast amount of gold bullion from the Central Bank of Italy on its fateful voyage. UK residents with a good memory who watched a documentary on the ship in the 1980s will remember an expedition to recover the safes. For technical reasons only one could be recovered and after a fanfare on Breakfast television was opened only to find a stack of soggy banknotes. The other safe is down there but does it contain bullion - we may never know and if this book teaches you anything any expedition that hopes to find it will expect to lose one or more diver in the process.

Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the "Andrea Doria"
Excellent read even though I noted some poor reviews before I purchased it. Its sobering rather than morbid and is more like an account of climbing Mount Everest in that it gives accounts of people at the limits of human achievement. Also recommend "The last dive" by Bernie Chowdhury.

Every diver should read this
Stunning account of the perils involved in deep Scuba Diving. Some sobering photos. However, this is not a reference book, rather an account of a number of people diving on one wreck. Nevertheless, a captivating read.