The author fails to make the case that there is important archeology and anthropology from studying heavily decayed shipwrecks. He seems to care mostly about building his own legacy with SCRU. The rules of preservation don't apply to him, for example when he strips away some black coral. The first few chapters are best, when it is more about diving, but the story overall is not compelling or especially well written. ( )

A very good memoir of the origins of, and higher profile work for, the National Parks Service Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (NPS SCRU). Lenihan has a clear passion for diving, and is a strong advocate for preserving the nation's underwater cultural artifacts. It was a nice contrast to Shadow Divers (another fabulous diving book), in which many of the wreck divers took 'souvenirs' from the wreck sites, often parts of the superstructure, ensuring that later divers would miss out on the experience, and robbing archeologists and historians valuable data about our maritime past. The SCRU philosophy of carefully removing a minimum of material from a site, and focusing on preservation, made me glad to see my tax dollars going to something worthwhile for a change. ( )

Submerged is a series of SCUBA-diving memoires by Daniel Lenihan. It's a fascinating book for divers, and is not unlike listening to BS stories from a grizzled old-timer. From the initial chapters, I thought this would be more about rescues than wrecks, but by chapter 4, the author gets his stride and focuses more on the wrecks. I can't say he's great at bringing other characters to life, but he is very detailed when it comes to the wrecks and technical challenges of each expedition. ( )