Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II is a 2004 non-fiction book by Robert Kurson recounting of the discovery of a World War II German U-boat 60 miles (97 km) off the coast of New Jersey, United States in 1991, exploration dives, and its eventual identification as U-869 lost on 11 February 1945.

In 1991, a group of divers, including John Chatterton, set out on Seeker to explore an unknown object lying 230 feet (70 m) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and discover a World War II German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey.

Kohler himself is driven not by monetary desires but the history behind the wreck, and the personal connection he feels as his family is of German descent.

The quest for the identity of the U-boat and its occupants pushes the dive team to the limits, ultimately ending Chatterton's and Kohler's marriages, and the lives of three divers, including Steve Feldman, and the father-son team Chris Rouse, Sr. and Chris "Chrisy" Rouse, Jr. Gary Gentile's self-published, non-fiction book Shadow Divers Exposed: the Real Saga of the U-869 (2006) challenges some of the facts about the sinking of U-869.

I wrote the song after reading Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson in which he recounts the discovery of a World War II German U-boat sixty miles off the U.S. coast in 1991.