A true story of death and survival in the world's most dangerous sport, cave diving. Two friends plunge 900 ft deep into the water of the Komali Springs in South Africa, to raise the body of a diver who had perished there a decade before. Only one returns. Unquenchable heroism and complex human relationships amid the perils of extreme sport. On New Year's Day, 2005, David Shaw travelled halfway around the world on a journey that took him to a steep crater in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa, a site known locally as Boesmansgat: Bushman's Hole. His destination was nearly 900 feet below the surface. On 8 January, he stepped into the water. He wore and carried on him some of the most advanced diving equipment ever developed. Mounted to a helmet on his head was a video camera. David Shaw was about to attempt what had never been done before, and he wanted the world to see. He descended. About fifteen feet below the surface was a fissure in the dolomite bottom of the basin, barely wide enough to admit him and his equipment and the aluminum tanks slung under his shoulders. He slipped through the opening, and disappeared from sight, leaving behind the world of light and life. Then, a second diver descended through the same crack in the stone. This was Don Shirley, Shaw's friend and frequent dive partner, one of the few people in the world qualified to follow where Shaw was about to go. In the community of extreme diving, Don Shirley was a master among masters. Twenty-five minutes later, one of the men was dead. The other was in mortal peril, and would spend the next 10 hours struggling to survive, existing literally from breath to breath. What happened that day at Bushman's Hole is the stuff of nightmarish drama, juxtaposing classic elements of suspense with an extreme environment beyond most people's comprehension. But it's also a compelling human story of friendship, heroism, unswerving ambition and of coming to terms with loss and tragedy. / Story-telling at its very best: a tale of friendship to the death, inspirational heroism, ill-fated adventure and, ultimately, tragedy. Raising the Dead also explores the culture behind one of the most perilous of all adventure sports and the remarkable individuals who pursue it. / Much more than a sports book, this is mass-market non-fiction at its finest -- think Into Thin Air or Touching the Void. / Written with the full cooperation of the families involved. Don Shirley, the surviving diver who came close to death, has agreed to help promote the book. / Strong serialisation in a national paper expected as well as widespread interviews and features in weekend supplements, sports, men's and diving press.
Phillip Finch is a journalist and author of more than ten books, both novels and non-fiction. He began his professional life as a 19-year-old reporter for the Washington Daily News; he moved on to the San Francisco Examiner and later became a front-page columnist for the Peninsula Times Tribune in Palo Alto. Formerly a member of an alpine search-and-rescue team, he has had a long interest in extreme sports and the people who pursue them. He is also an experienced cave diver.
'At the bottom of the biggest underwater cave in the world, Dave Shaw found the body of a young man who had disappeared ten years earlier. What happened after Shaw promised to go back is nearly unbelievable -- unless you believe in ghosts.' Outside Magazine, USA
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