Setting the Hook: A Diver's Return to the Andrea Doria

by Peter M. Hunt, Virtual Voice (Narrator)

The 1956 collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm triggered a night of sheer terror for the Andrea Doria’s 1,134 passengers and set in motion one of history’s most dramatic rescues at sea. From the moment the Andrea Doria settled on the sea floor in 240 feet of water, skilled amateur divers have risked their lives to simply touch her broken hull. In 1981, wealthy adventurer Peter Gimbel enlisted the aid of commercial salvage divers to torch open the Andrea Doria’s Foyer Deck doors in search of treasure and answers. The unprecedented access to deep within the sunken ship’s interior enticed growing numbers of sport divers to explore the wreck in increasingly daring quests for a piece of the “Mt. Everest of wreck diving.” Not all returned alive. Peter Hunt crewed on five Andrea Doria diving expeditions during the early 1980s aboard Steve Bielenda’s legendary research vessel Wahoo before becoming a Navy carrier pilot and settling in Washington State. Nearly twenty years after first exploring the Andrea Doria - and following twelve months of arduous Pacific Northwest dive training in the newest equipment and techniques - Hunt hugged his wife and children goodbye and returned to New York to dive the Andrea Doria once again. The experience transformed him forever. Setting the Hook explores the Andrea Doria and extreme diving through an introspective odyssey of memory and history back to the dangerous underwater world of northeast shipwrecks. Extreme adventure, thirty years of technical diving, and enduring friendships merge in a personal tale of learning to accept life’s oldest challenge.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Adventure, Outdoors, Sports

Audible Audio

First published December 14, 2011

About the author

Peter Hunt was born in New York and spent six years of his childhood in Athens, Greece where he started diving in 1978. He graduated with a history degree from Brown University in 1985 before joining the Navy and training as an A-6 Intruder attack pilot. Hunt completed three aircraft carrier deployments to the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and Western Pacific during ten years of active duty. His military awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals for combat action during Operation Desert Storm. After leaving the Navy, Hunt worked as a United Airlines pilot until being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2005 at age 43. The father of two adult children, Hunt holds a Masters in Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructure from the University of Washington and lives with his wife on Whidbey Island, Washington. He is the author of The Lost Intruder, The Search for a Missing Navy Jet, Angles of Attack, an A-6 Intruder Pilot’s War, and Setting the Hook, a Diver’s Return to the Andrea Doria. His most recent book is The Lost Intruder, the Search for a Missing Navy Jet (September 15, 2017). For more information, please go to www.peterhuntbooks.com.

Reviews

[Max Gilbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The full title of this book is Setting the Hook: A Diver's Return to the Andrea Doria, which certainly leads one to believe that there will be a return to the famous shipwreck.

The author does a good job describing his early days diving when no one knew any better than to go to 240' while breathing air (rather than a helium blend) and diving to the Andrea Doria. My own diving career doesn't go that far back, so stories from those days interest me.

After his early days of diving, the author takes a break from diving to pursue a career and raise a family before returning to technical diving. His descriptions of his training as he learns the "new" way to dive on trimix were well-done and accurate when compared to my own training experiences.

As you may guess from my lead-in, the ending - the *return* to the Doria will definitely leave you wishing for one more dive.

[James Q. Benners · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, really enjoyed this book!

What an incredible experience from a veteran diver of the Andrea Doria! I enjoyed the details of his dives, the close calls, stories of the Wahoo Crew, and the struggle many years later to dive the wreck just once more. My deep respect to the author, one who made many incredible dives to the Mount Everest of scuba diving!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the very best of the east coast wreck diver books. I have to admit as an experienced diver I am not a fan of the east coast wreck diver books prior to this. This book did help me understand the prior books and attitudes in them a little better and may have softened my view of them. This book is akin to “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer and “Addicted to Danger a Memoir” by Jim Wickwire. What makes this book great for my age group at least is the middle age introspection on were the author has been and where he is going with an examination of life’s priorities. Another book that is similar is “Neutral Buoyancy” by Tim Ecott. However, this book is more compact and less meandering than Ecott’s book. I have enough diving experience to know the technical information is spot on. In full disclosure I have to admit I have met Peter and we have thrown back a few beers together. I am looking forward to reading Peter’s Book “Angles of Attack”.

[Ron Brugger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read. I am a scuba diving instructor and may use some of Mr. Hunt's descriptions of the physiology of diving, as they are not only accurate but seem to me to be clearer than what I have been using (we'll see what my students think). As some of the other reviewers said, this book gave me a better appreciation of why some take the risks to dive these dangerous east coast wrecks.

[Shawn Minihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for diving enthusiasts!

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice mix of the history of the Andrea Doria shipwreck, an overview of technical diving, and contemplations on youth and the passage of time.

[Kevin Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a fan of the other Andrea Doria diving books this one is well worth a read. Not the best but a new and worth while perspective on that subject.

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite, beloved, parts are the prologue and the epilogue. I learned a lot about the extreme diving community from reading this book, and I'm glad I read it.

[Ted Range · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a diving instructor, good book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

Really enjoyed the book, it was a good read. It reminded me about a lot of memories of working on a dive boat out of fairheaven MA. The boat did dive trips to the Andrea Doria back in the 90's. The story of his life diving Andrea Doria brought it all to life.