Chapter 7 Ricky Kohler

If anyone was destined to find a submarine that no one had ever found, it was Ricky.Kohler. In 1968, Richard.Koehler and his wife Frances moved to a house in Morion Pike with their three children.This Brooklyn neighborhood is filled with Italian and Jewish residents.In this community, children help elderly widows with housework, and immigrants plant figs in their tiny backyards.Richard was 29 years old, the owner of a glass company, and he was of German descent, and he was very proud of it.Frances, then 27, was of Sicilian origin, and she was equally proud of it.Both hope to instill the culture they have passed on to their children, especially Ricky, who is six years old, and he has reached the age where he can understand these cultures.But in the process of raising Ricky, the Kohlers discovered something different about their son.He read books voraciously, but never in bold print for children, in favor of National Geographic, histories of war, and books about space and space.After reading all the books at home, he will read the books he has read from the beginning.His mother wondered why he didn't play outside with the other kids, and then came home disgraced.And Ricky has been asking his mother to subscribe him to "Popular Mechanics", and Frances doesn't know whether she should be happy or find a doctor to see Ricky.She'd never met a human being -- child or adult -- who was in such an endless search for answers.

Frances bought more books for her son, and Ricky couldn't stop reading—military biographies, combat accounts, weapons manuals, and anything else that celebrated courage.It wasn't long before Frances found she had to force Ricky to play outside. When Ricky learned about the "Apollo" project, he was attracted by the idea of ​​humans traveling through and controlling the universe.He reads about Neil.Armstrong's books, and then made up his mind to become an astronaut too.He drinks Guozhen every day for energy, wears a “space suit” he’s made out of tin foil, and begs his mother to buy him a Swanson TV meal—the closest thing to space food you can get in Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, his father has been busy expanding his glass business, but he still takes time out of his busy schedule to educate his children.He appreciates Ricky's good habit of reading, but he also hopes that his son's body will become stronger.He taught his son to do all kinds of manual work—whether at home, in his shop, or on his boat—and he gave him important tasks to do.Ricky scratched glass at seven and used a circular saw at eight.Whenever Ricky showed indecision, his father would reprimand him: "Are you an idiot?" or "Don't stand there like a log."Whenever this happens, Ricky will bow his head deeply - he adores his father, and his father is the strongest man in the world in his mind, and he is very reluctant to let his father down.Ricky's mother would retort, "How can you say that?" She asked, "You know how your father's words hurt you. Now, how can you say the same to your son? ?” Richard.Kohler simply ignored his wife's words.

Soon, Ricky's desire to please his father overcame his desire to be an astronaut.When his father asked him, "Are you playing with G.I. dolls? Are you still playing with dolls?" he quickly switched to making models of battleships and fighter jets.When his father took him out to sea and gave him important assignments, he was always worried about tying a sailor's knot wrong or steering the boat too close to an obstacle--actions his father would call stupid.But anyway, he could go to sea with his father, tie his own sailor's knot, and steer his own boat—something no neighbor's kid could do at seven.It wasn't long before Ricky was able to do the things that teens could do, all thanks to his dad.Richard thought he could do it, and made him do it.

While Ricky continued to study history, he also received another kind of education.His parents wanted to pass on to him the culture of their proud country.Frances cooks meals full of Sicilian flavors, she follows the family tradition, leaves lipstick marks on her cheeks when hugging and kissing people, eats no meat on Fridays, embraces passionately with friends, and calls children's names in a strong Sicilian dialect—— These are the hallmarks of Ricky's Italian roots.His thick black hair was combed into a dhoni.Osmond's hairstyle.His skin takes on an olive tinge from the nourishment of his mother's bottles of imported extra-virgin olive oil.His eyes were the color of bark in the meadows.His eyebrows curve down at the tail, like the injured arm of a football player being lifted off the field, but they're expressive, moving up and down with Ricky's mood.Ricky's eyebrows have moved since childhood, even while reading.

Ricky's father wanted to educate him as a German.Both he and Ricky were hard-working, honor-conscious people who wouldn't take handouts or gifts from anyone.His philosophy was, "If you want more, you have to give more," and he went out of his way to pass this on to his son.He wanted Ricky to be proud of his country's culture and not make anyone in the community feel inferior to others of their German descent.In fact Ricky already has a sense of pride in being German from the books he reads and the history shows he watches.He noticed from these avenues that no matter what people thought of the Germans, they respected their striving for excellence.

His father often casually recalls Mr. Seger, his neighbor and idol from childhood.Seger is a German immigrant who works in a circus in Germany.After Hitler came to power, he fled Germany, but he had come to the United States many times with the circus before.He once told Richard about his beloved motherland. In that land, skilled craftsmen produced beautiful handicrafts, outstanding scientists and artists were everywhere, every village inherited ancient traditions, and people Believe in the work ethic of hard work and have a deep pride in your country.Before meeting Mr. Seger, Richard never thought that he would inherit the excellent cultural traditions of Germany.But after getting to know Mr. Seger, Richard decided he wanted to be a real German.There are times when Ricky's father is so engrossed in the memories of Mr. Seger that it's like going back to his childhood.Little Ricky could tell that his father considered Mr. Seger a hero.This left a deep imprint on Ricky's young mind, and this person was his idol.

Ricky began to focus on reading about German history, especially World War II.He noticed that the Germans were often described as despicable and shameless on TV, and he wondered why people imagined the Germans so badly, but in fact it was only Hitler who endangered the world and also damaged the dignity of this country.He read the history of Germany before World War II and studied how Hitler came to power in the country.Whenever the school asked to write a book report, he chose German subjects.He told neighbors in the community that his surname "Köhler" was derived from the German word for "miner".

As Ricky read more and more history books, he began to notice a big difference in the way he thought from other kids his age.The other kids enjoyed reading war books, but Ricky seemed more interested in the lives of soldiers.He often thinks about weird questions that no one else thinks about—the letters written by soldiers trapped in bunkers, why soldiers always hope that small things can be sent to them at home, the childhood life of fighter pilots, and the families of soldiers who knew them What kind of reaction will there be after the bad news of the death of his son.When he saw photos of soldiers who died on the battlefield from the books, he hoped that these books would never be circulated to the hometowns of these soldiers.

Although Ricky's father is busy at work, he often spends weekends with the kids.But he doesn't play baseball or participate in school dramas with his kids like other fathers do.If Ricky wanted to be with his father—and he often did—he had to do what his father was used to, which meant they were on the boat together. He was always nervous when his father watched him tie the sail or wipe the handrail.If he made a slight mistake, his father would say, "You are so useless!" If things went well, he would be full of joy.His father gave him important duties on board.Soon, Ricky learned his father's philosophy - nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.

Beyond the coast was a whole new world for the seven-year-old, whose horizons had widened.Ricky's father loved fishing, and like all fishermen, he had a digital book, a passport to those mysterious places.They often go fishing near the wreck, and Richard told Ricky that among the rows of wrecks below them, there are German submarines.That is a very wonderful hunting machine, which once haunted dangerous sea areas on a large scale.Ricky has always dreamed of being able to conquer alien worlds in outer space.But for him now, the mysterious machines that have been around him decades ago are more attractive than the science fiction stories he saw on TV.As they sailed past the Rockaway Estuary, Ricky asked his father what the evenly spaced, castle-like circular stone pillars were for.His father explained to him that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used the pillars to cast an iron net underwater to keep German submarines out of Jamaica Bay. "Can you believe it, Ricky?" his father asked. "The Germans are here. Look, you can see the Verezano Bridge, the U-boats have been there the last time." Ricky used to wallow in of this knowledge, but he never revealed a word to his friend.In his opinion, only fishermen like him and his father are qualified to know the secrets of German submarines sneaking into the coast of the United States. After hearing about the iron net from his father, Ricky went to the store and bought a model submarine, which he kept drawing until he had a scene where the submarine was caught by the iron net.He studied his father's nautical charts, and was surprised to find that there was a sunken submarine off the coast of Block Island in Rhode Island, with a shocking scarlet letter beside it warning: Attention—with munitions.A quarter of a century has passed since the era of submarines, and there are still unfinished stories on submarines. It was a warm, sunny day when Ricky was eight years old.His father took him to water ski at Deadhouse Cove in the waters of Mill Bay on the Brooklyn coast.Ricky's rope loosened while water skiing and he fell into the water.The father quickly turned off the engine, turned the bow of the boat around, and shouted at Ricky, "Swim to the boat! Swim to the boat!" and pulled his son out of the water.He drives the boat around an object in the water.Richard said to Ricky: "Go into the cabin, don't look into the water." But Ricky was full of curiosity about everything, he walked into the cabin, stopped halfway, and observed the water. object.His father drove the boat around the object again.Then he saw clearly that it was a body, a woman's body—he knew it was a woman's body because he saw that the body was wearing a bikini.His father contacted the Coast Guard and continued to circle the body.Ricky observed the corpse at close range. The female corpse was face down, her long hair was floating on the water, her legs were separated, half of her buttocks were exposed from the swimsuit, and there were several obvious scars on her back and thighs. The corpse was lifted up with the boat The waves go up and down.Ricky's heart was beating violently, but he couldn't help but keep looking into the water.He didn't yell, and he didn't hide in fear.He wondered how a person could be thrown into the sea like this without anyone knowing where she was. As the sailing season drew to a close, Ricky's father decided to learn to scuba dive.At home, Richard allowed Ricky to install and dismantle his gas cylinders and regulators—equipment he hoped would be familiar to his three children without intimidation.He threw the scuba gear at the bottom of the small pool in the backyard, had Ricky swim to the bottom to assemble the equipment, and let him breathe underwater using a cylinder and regulator.Whenever Ricky thinks that he can conquer the underwater world, he feels as great as the diver in the TV series. During this time, Ricky had been a relentless reader, which made him look like a nerd among kids his age.Ricky never played any sports or played outside with the neighborhood kids.He spends most of his spare time reading books or making models of World War II weapons, which are getting more and more realistic.But Ricky is not a weak person. After Ricky's father heard that his son was bullied by a tall boy with an African hairstyle named Pooh after school, he took Ricky to the community to find the kid, and then forced his son Beat the boy up.Since then, the neighbor's children dare not underestimate Ricky any more.They all knew that if Ricky was provoked, he would go crazy, and no one would dare to provoke him easily. One summer when Ricky was nine, his father took him and another dock mechanic out to sea on his fishing boat for a party on the boat.Now that Richard has allowed Ricky to sail the boat, swim in the sea, and serve vodka to the adults, he has become an important member of the ship.Richard hands Ricky the helm to steer the ship from port into the Atlantic.Ten minutes after leaving the dock, Ricky slammed the rudder sideways, and the rocking of the boat caught his father's attention. "What are you doing?" his father asked. "There's a tire up front and I don't want to hit it," Ricky replied. Richard leaned down and looked into the water. "That's not a tire," he said. Ricky tilted his head and looked to the side.As the boat continued on, he saw that what he thought was a tire was actually a male corpse.His face was down, his arms were stretched out to the sides, his legs were suspended in the water, and a black windbreaker covered his head under the impact of the waves, like a shroud.Ricky saw his face as the boat passed him and the waves knocked his head up.His eyes were closed, his face was clean-shaven, his hair was over his eyes, he was wearing a turtleneck sweater under a trench coat, his skin was very white, he was dead. Ricky's father took over the helm and steered the boat slowly around the body. "Go back to the cabin, don't look!" he ordered.Ricky left the wheelhouse but kept his eyes on the water.His father and the other man hooked the body with a ten-foot harpoon and pulled it closer to the boat.The waves were huge, and the corpse fluctuated up and down with the waves, but his arms remained in their original posture, stretched out to the sides, forming a cross shape with the body.Richard reported to the Coast Guard. "Salvage the body to the boat," the Coast Guard ordered. "Absolutely not," Richard replied. Richard knew that if the body was salvaged to his boat, he would be embroiled in endless investigations that he simply had no time for.He stayed as close to the body as possible, waiting for the Coast Guard to arrive.While waiting, Richard joked with his friend: "Look if he has a wallet on him!" "Is he wearing a big diamond ring?" The Coast Guard arrived and radioed Richard. "Fill the body onto your boat and come back with us." "No," Richard replied, "if you don't come and salvage the body, I'll let it go." The thought of his father frightened Ricky more than the sight of a dead body, and he couldn't stand a dead man floating in the ocean and disappearing without a trace.He knew his father kept his word, and he could only pray that the Coast Guard would come and take the body away. The Coast Guard boat approached them through wind and waves.Ricky kept staring at the corpse's face and his outstretched arms.Richard handed over the harpoon as the Coast Guard boat passed by, and the crew began to vomit after seeing the body.The Coast Guard asked Richard to follow them back to shore in a boat.When everyone arrived at the Coast Guard station, they carried the body ashore on stretchers.The seawater kept flowing from the mouth of the deceased. A boy about Ricky's age ran to the stretcher and shouted, "Dad! This is my dad!" stop crying.A few minutes later, someone told Richard that the deceased had encountered a storm while driving the sailboat. He was knocked out of the sailboat by the waves and died in the sea.They said the dead man was a priest. On the way home, Ricky wondered what would have happened if he and his father hadn't found the priest's body.It had been a year since he had found the woman's body, and in all that time Ricky had wondered how desperately the loving family would want to know what happened to a man if he was lost at sea, How heartbroken it would be. When Ricky was eleven years old, his father finally taught him to dive.Together they came to the pier where the boat was moored.Ricky checked his gauges, spit in his mask to keep it from fogging up underwater, and patted his side to make sure he hadn't dropped his dive knife.After everything was ready, he followed the posture in the TV series "Sea Cruise" and rolled into the water with his back.White foam cups and cigarette butts floated everywhere in the sea in New York, and the water was covered with oil stains.But Ricky couldn't believe his eyes, the scenery under the water was so wonderful - horseshoe crabs holding their claws to demonstrate, minnows swimming around, jellyfish floating around with the current - he was free in this inaccessible place cruising.It was here that the submarine had slinked away from the noise on shore, and he knew he had reached another world, a world not unlike the mysterious universe he had longed for. When Ricky was twelve, his parents separated and his father had other women. One night in February 1975, Frances quietly walked into Ricky's bedroom, woke Ricky who was sleeping soundly, and handed him the suitcase to pack her own and her brother's. "Where are we going?" Ricky asked his mother sleepily. "We're going to Florida," Frances said.She was surprised by her answer.This idea had never crossed her mind before. At two o'clock in the morning, Frances loaded the three children into her black Buickia and headed south on the New Jersey Freeway.She bought a map at a gas station she was passing and asked Ricky to drive.They rested at a rest stop in the early twilight before Frances drove on, eventually arriving at her mother's house in Florida.She never told her mother she was coming here.Roselle.Ruotti kissed her daughter and squeezed her grandson's face affectionately.Frances knew she would never return to New York. A few weeks after leaving New York, Ricky celebrated his thirteenth birthday at his grandmother's house in Florida.Frances bought her own house nearby.Ricky said to his father on the phone, "I love you, but why don't you come here with me." Richard could only say, "You know, son, I can't help it, your mother and I We can't be together anymore." After a few phone calls, Ricky knew he was going to be in Florida for the rest of his life. Ricky attended nearby Hudson High School when he was fourteen.While out exercising one day, he sees a burly classmate bullying another thin, blond boy whom Ricky recognizes as his math class.Ricky stepped forward and told the tall boy to stop. "It's none of your fucking business, if you talk nonsense, I'll..." the tall boy said.Ricky punched him on the jaw.The boy fell to the ground, whimpering and begging.Ricky knew his father was right: If someone bullies you, raise your fist. The thin boy thanked Ricky and introduced himself as Don.Davidson, who asked Ricky to come over to his house after school.Don's room is like an exhibition hall, with many models of fighter jets from World War II hanging from the roof.If you take a close-up of these models, they look like real fighter jets.Ricky lay on the floor, looking at the models above, as if he was on the battlefield of Leyte Bay, and saw the machine gun destroy the wing of the enemy plane, and the pilot jumped out of the cockpit to escape.Don was very happy to see Ricky laying on the floor watching the models, as he often does that himself.Don's bookshelf contained two dozen books on Hitler's air force, the Luftwaffe. "I'm German," Don tells Ricky, "and I'm fascinated by World War II technology—especially German engineering and the superweapons they used." Ricky tells Don about the Nazi Navy—the German Navy —and the mystery of how a German U-boat approached the coast of New York, only a mile or two from his doorstep.Ricky told Don that he was also German, and the two kids became close friends ever since. When Ricky and Don were fifteen years old, they signed up for scuba diving classes, hoping to qualify for beginner diving.They often dive, harpoon fish, and go head-to-head with sharks.Ricky feels like an underwater astronaut, freely exploring the restricted areas of the seabed, and exploring these places is something that those students of the same age can't even think about.These excellent diving suits are not only the protective clothing for Ricky's underwater exploration, but also the entrance for him to explore the underwater world.He likes the freedom and freedom he feels when spearfishing in the sea.Bottom hunters like Don and he often spend more than an hour alone in the sea, without their father by their side, and all they can rely on is themselves. Ricky became a street gangster during his freshman year of high school.He gave up his years of obsession with books and started hanging out on the beach with other kids, stuffing tobacco in plastic tubes of 35mm film and custom-made a razor-sharp knife.He had the typical outfit of a seventies teenager: shoulder-length hair, a moustache, fringed shorts, and a black rock 'n' roll T-shirt with a shiny silk print.The Florida sun tanned his otherwise olive skin, and his jaw was sharply defined.The girls all want to be close to him.His eyebrows still moved up and down with emotion as if he could speak. Ricky's grades in each course are A or B, but the teacher's comments to him are often: "not studying hard enough" or "needs further improvement".He often demonstrates the philosophy of life that his father taught him on the street.Once, his fourteen-year-old brother Frank said he was being bullied by an adult, and sixteen-year-old Ricky knocked the adult down until he cried and begged for mercy.Ricky and four junior soccer players decide to play a prank on the seniors by setting their locked tracksuits on fire in their closets.The school therefore filed a lawsuit against them.During the trial, the judge told them that if they did not cause trouble in the future, their records could be expunged this time.Since then, Ricky really hasn't gotten into trouble again. Over time, Ricky began to plan for the future.He's not going to school anymore - although he gets a lot of enjoyment out of studying, he needs to get his hands on something, not just sit behind a desk and listen to someone lecture him.An idea had already taken shape in his mind.He was going to join the navy so he could live at sea, sail around the globe, and operate some of the most spectacular warships in the world.Maybe—and this was what he really hoped—he could serve on an attack submarine.Of course, he is not referring to bulky nuclear submarines, but sleek, agile, predator-like submarines. When Ricky was about to graduate from high school, U.S. Navy recruiters came to his high school to recruit soldiers.Ricky asked a lot of questions, and the recruiter told him that those who took the officer certification exam had the opportunity to attend the officer training program.Recruits participating in these training programs have the opportunity to receive training in various fields - including submarines.Ricky signed up for the test and worked hard.He achieved a good score of 98 points in the 100-point test. The US Navy said they were happy to accept him, and Ricky once again made a request for a submarine. The recruiter assured Ricky that if he agreed to serve in the Navy for six years, the Navy would agree to put him on a submarine.They asked Ricky to sign an agreement to secure this commitment, which Ricky and his mother signed.Even though his dreams of becoming an astronaut were shattered years ago, now, though it sounds very different, he says to himself, "I finally got my wish." After high school, Ricky and several other recruits were driven to a Florida Navy and Air Force base.Navy jets circled overhead, recruits were sworn in, and Ricky became a member of the U.S. Navy. That afternoon, an officer in a blue jacket called Ricky into his office. "Son, something's wrong," he said. "You lied about your application." "I don't understand what you mean?" Ricky asked. Officers explained that they discovered that Ricky had a record for arson in high school.The Navy cannot allow someone who might set fire to serve on a warship.Never allowed. Ricky, with stomach cramps, explained that the incident was a hoax and that the judge agreed to expunge the record, but the officer was unmoved.In the end, the officer suggested that Ricky could continue to attend officer training, but he would never be able to board any warships again.He asks Ricky to sign a document on this, which Ricky refuses to sign.Hours later, Ricky wandered the streets heartbroken and delirious.He was a member of the U.S. Navy for one day, but now the bright future he expected was killed by a teenage mistake.For the next few days, he wandered aimlessly, reflecting on his past life, hoping to find some way to make amends.When he found it was useless, he decided to return to New York to work for his father. For three years, Kohler has been working hard in his father's company.During this time, he never touched his wetsuit.One day, he went to a dive store on eastern Long Island to fix a window.In the meantime, he saw a photo of a diver exploring a wreck.The diver in the photo seems to be looking for a faucet in the bathtub of the sunken ship. Kohler asked this man named Ed.Murphy's store owner asked about the photo. "The ship is 'Andra Dorian,'" Murphy said. Kohler had read a story about the "Andra Dorian" in a book.He knew the ship was sunk off the coast of New York, but he never imagined that anyone would dive there to explore.The shopkeeper produced a stack of photographs of the Dorian.From these photos, the "Dorian" is completely different from the wrecks Kohler saw in Florida.Those sunken ships have been completely eroded by sea water, but the "Dorian" looks like a sunken prop used by Hollywood to make movies. The cabin is intact, and the various pipes on it are clearly visible. tragedy. "I want to go diving there," Kohler blurted out.This decision shocked even himself - for three years, he never thought about diving again. "No, no, no," said the shopkeeper hastily. "It's not easy to dive the Dorian. It's 250 feet deep, and only the best divers can go." "I'm just the best diver," Kohler said.He told the owner about a previous experience of spearfishing in Florida. "That's not like spearfishing, my friend," said the owner. "Well, I've got a group of customers going diving this weekend on a wreck called the San Diego. It's a German torpedoed World War I ship Cruiser, about 110 feet deep - you should be fine at that depth, bring your wetsuit." "I'm definitely going," Kohler said. Kohler rushed to the basement of his father's company in search of his diving equipment.The diving gear was dusty and moldy. He opened it and took out the tank, regulator, mask and fins. His wetsuit smelled of decaying rubber. On the weekend, Kohler went to the "San Diego" with the ship.When they arrived at the wreck, he began to dress.The other divers snickered and coughed at the smell of his clothes.Kohler had no gloves, no diving cap, no boots—just a peasant-like wetsuit that didn't even cover his arms.Seeing his attire, someone asked him if he had just planted corn this morning. "The bottom is cold," a diver told him. "This ain't Florida, man." "Oh, I'll be fine," Kohler said. Within a minute of being in the water, Kohler started shaking.In the gray-green water, the temperature is less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.When he got to the wreck, he realized that the wreck was turned upside down and upside down.He cruised along the side of the ship, hoping to find an entrance, and finally found the entrance to a cabin.Kohler had no special training in digging, sifting, or otherwise.He just grabbed a handful of mud with his hands and found a handful of bullets in it.He was very excited, but his body began to shiver with cold.He checked his watch—he had been in the water for five minutes.He started to ascend, not wanting to freeze to death in the sea.As he ascended, he stared fascinatedly at the bullet in his hand.It is unbelievable that the ammunition from World War I appeared in his hands across time and space. Afterwards, Koehler bought the standard equipment for wreck divers on the Northeast Coast: a drysuit, gloves, and a fifty-dollar diving knife.He signs up for dives on all dive shop dive charter boats.His body seemed to yearn instinctively for those wrecks full of belongings.He can often find things that have been overlooked by other divers for years.He fearlessly explores wrecks such as the Oregon and the San Diego, often traversing places even dive instructors dread.The longing for diving runs in his blood.The undulating waves of the sea, the roar of the ship's engines, the gray-blue waters of the harbor, and the silvery reflection of the Milky Way in the water at midnight—all of these reminded him of the good times he had spent on the boat with his father. For Koehler, wreck diving is an activity that allows him to travel as well.He once saw such a report in a diving magazine: In 1967, a group of people rented a boat to go diving on the "Dorian", and one of them was named John.Dudas' men found the compass of the sunken ship.Kohler felt that Dudas was simply not an ordinary human being.In those days without gauges, they dived 250 feet to the bottom of the sea to retrieve the compass case from the Dorian, in cold wet suits and watches that could get in at any moment.Kohler was just beginning to recognize the symptoms of nitrogen narcosis and to have a sensual understanding of the coldness of the ocean floor.For him, Dudas is simply a combination of the advantages of astronauts, mercenaries, gladiators and dolphins, and he is a real strongman. With the rich experience, Kohler gradually showed his courage beyond ordinary people.During one dive on the USS San Diego, he squeezed through a collapsing hole and into an oily cabin.In near-zero visibility, he found a bag full of china, lampshades, binoculars, and horns, which he distributed to his companions on shore.His performance caught the attention of diving enthusiast magazines.While exploring other wrecks -- the Oregon, the Rescue, the Coibra, the Lessel -- he dug through the muck and swam into collapsed holds, dangerous His actions all show his great love for deep water shipwrecks.He often ends dives before he runs out of air, and he often returns with a full load from those dangerous cabins.His desire for shipwreck items knows no bounds, and the more he finds, the more he craves. One day Murphy took Kohler aside for a one-on-one talk, and told Kohler that there was a six-man dive team—a gang, in fact—that he felt belonged to Kohler.The gang didn't have an official name, but others called them "The Bandits."They were scary, Murphy said, referring to their lust for wreck items and their contempt for dangerous environments.They are some of the best divers on the east coast. “他们潜水的深度令人疯狂，柯勒，”墨菲说道，“他们专去那些别人不敢去的地方，他们和你是一类人。” “能把我介绍给他们吗？”柯勒问道。 “听着，很多人认为他们是抢劫沉船的强盗……” “那你就必须得把我介绍给他们了。”柯勒说道。 墨菲邀请这伙人参加他组织的一次前往“俄勒冈”号的潜水，柯勒也报名了。墨菲介绍他们认识。这个“强盗”团伙包括六个人——五个蓝领工人和一个航空宇宙工程师——每个人都至少有十年的沉船潜水经验。他们在船上大声喧哗，但抵达沉船后就变得完全不同。柯勒看到这些人迅速融合成一个整体，飞快地做着各种手势，很明显是按照早已制定好的计划统一行动。他们派一个名叫宾基的人钻到货船尾部的一个小洞中，然后轮流等在舷窗前把自己的包中装满各种物品：闪着银光的水壶、盘子和其他由宾基挖出来的物品，似乎每个人都可以预计到其他人的每个动作，在默契的配合下，他们之间几乎没有任何多余的动作。在相同的时间内，他们可以打捞出最大数量的沉船物品。柯勒从没有看见过这么无间的合作。他从小就对那些构造精良的机器非常着迷，而现在看着这些人的团队合作，他更是感觉永不厌倦。 上船后，“强盗”们打开啤酒，摆出各种熟食大肆庆祝他们的收获。柯勒将他在沉船上抓的两只大龙虾递给他们，他们嗤之以鼻。“你找的沉船物品在哪里？如果你就是想抓龙虾的话，你他妈还是待在码头上吧。”柯勒笑了笑，然后问他以后是否还可以和他们一起潜水。 “强盗”团伙并不喜欢外人，但他们喜欢柯勒。这个孩子像他们一样一杯一杯地喝着酒，他们都痛恨相同的包租船船长。最重要的是，他看上去具有和他们一样的强盗精神。他们向他提了一条建议，“你带啤酒，”他们说道，“你就可以跟我们一起潜水。” 柯勒买了数不清的啤酒，他这样持续了一年。他从未见过什么人聚会时像他们一样闹得那么凶。他们潜水前在比萨店里大吵大闹，他们朝路过的船只露出屁股，他们戴着塑料猪鼻子冲他们讨厌的船长学猪叫。他们还要喝下大量的啤酒，吃进数不清的食物。偶尔歇一会儿，他们还不时地教育柯勒，这些乐子是多少钱也买不来的。 就像对待军队士兵一样，这些人将柯勒原有的服装剥去，给他配备了深海潜水员的标准装束。他的潜水服？去死吧——要买这种牌子的。他的灯？快把那些佛罗里达的垃圾丢掉，买个更亮点的——看在上帝的份上，这里可是大西洋啊。五十美元的刀？太夸张了吧，换个便宜的，这样它掉下去的时候你就不会玩命地去追了。他们意思很明确：如果一个潜水员想到其他人都不敢去的地方，那么他必须首先具备能够这样做的硬件。 然后他们开始给柯勒灌输新的想法，他们教他研究甲板图和照片，这样就可以确定沉船上哪个部位才能找到最多的物品。盲目挖掘的潜水员永远比不上那些提前准备的潜水员。他们倡导团队精神：他们这群人要一起行动，然后一起分享得到的东西。这样的话，柯勒就可能会背着别人挖出来的东西上来，或者在其他人体力不支时向他们伸出援手，无论如何一定要使整个团队的收获最大化。如果柯勒想独吞找到的沉船物品，那么太好了，孩子，不要待在团队里了。只要你在团队里，就要记住这一点：我们从不互相欺诈。 他们在潜水过程中对柯勒倾囊相授，他们的方法虽然古老但行之有效。他们讨论如何判断出倾斜的沉船上沉船物品的所在。他们的行为体现了用脑思考相较单纯使用体力的优越性。他们熟知所有潜水过程中可能出现的状况，就像一本活的潜水事故百科全书。他们研究这项运动中所有可能出现的千钧一发的情况、减压病的袭击，以及溺水死亡等，他们深入分析每起事故，直到他们对事故原因了如指掌，并可以本能地反应出预防方法为止。他们对别人发生的事故进行总结，得出这样一条经验：潜水员不可能独立做成所有的事。 他们向柯勒传授生存的方法，告诉他，只要他还在呼吸那么就万事大吉。他们教他如何应对产生的恐慌：首先将动作慢下来，然后后退，不断跟自己讲话，直到战胜恐慌。他们不断提醒他没有减压就升到水面的严重后果，当他们说：“我宁愿割断自己的喉咙也不愿意忍受减压病的折磨”时，他相信他们说得是真的，因为他们曾亲眼看见没有减压的潜水员浮出水面后满脸鲜血、心脏停止跳动的惨状。他们提醒他——不断地提醒——要注意“雪球效应”，这是指如果潜水员忽略了一个或两个小问题只顾解决其他问题，那么这一两个小问题就会和其他问题搀杂在一起给他带来巨大的困扰。“一定要解决好遇到的第一个问题，要立即解决，并且要妥善解决。”他们说，“否则你他妈就完了。” 柯勒记住了他们说的每句话。当他们带着他到最危险的沉船潜水时，他努力坚持着，用背包往上运沉船物品，一直注意保证自己的安全。在接下来的一年中，他参加了这个团体的每次潜水。对这些潜水员来说，柯勒只是一个小鬼，但他每次找到的东西都是他们从未见过的。他从不怀疑自己的能力，对他来说没有什么目标是不可能实现的，没有什么想法是过于夸大的。他居然认为他们这群人可以将“科伊布拉”号的船钟从船头上摘下来。大家都知道这艘船全长400英尺，沉在180英尺的深处，那里海水冰冷，从没有潜水员到过这艘船的船头。“你还真聪明，这真是个不错的找死的方法，”他们一边说一边将啤酒罐砸向他的后背。但是不管这些人怎么嘲笑柯勒的想法，也不管他们怎样讽刺他，柯勒都坚持说：“这是可能的！”最后他们不得不承认柯勒的想法是有可能实现的。在柯勒提出找寻“科伊布拉”号船钟的建议一个月后，这些人准备了备用气瓶，制定了严密的小组行动计划，成为第一批到“科伊布拉”号船头探险的潜水员（直至今天，还没有人发现这艘沉船的船钟）。 一天，在潜水归来的途中，这些潜水员达成一致意见。如果他们增加成员并且形成组织，那么他们就可以自己租下一艘船潜水，这样既可以省钱又可以自己决定潜水地点。不过，需要规定成员的义务——无论是否参加潜水，成员都必须支付船的租金——但这确实可以提高整个组织的行动效率。 潜水员们一个个表示同意。现在这个组织需要一个正式的名字。有人建议用“大西洋沉船潜水员”。wonderful.另一个人建议大家穿上同样的风衣。 “我们可不是保龄球队，”其余人都反对。那么绣着骷髅十字的棉布夹克怎么样？That's about the same.现在这六个人必须选出另外四个新成员，而这四个新成员的加入必须得到所有人的同意。只有最好的潜水员才能获得提名，而且这些潜水员必须和他们一起潜过水，必须与他们想法一致。当提到柯勒的名字时，四个人竖起了大拇指表示同意，另外两个人将拇指指向一边表示反对。柯勒的心沉了下去，所有的人都没有说话。当这两个人认为已经把柯勒折磨够了的时候，他们也竖起了大拇指，柯勒总算长舒了一口气。他们打开啤酒，每个人都发誓要忠于他们的组织。 “大西洋沉船潜水员”就正式成立了。 就在柯勒加入“大西洋沉船潜水员”的时候，他听到传言，父亲正在和他的前女友交往，柯勒曾和这个女孩同居过一年。他质问他的父亲，父亲承认这是真的，而且他已经和这个女孩交往了几个月。瑞奇听后，哑口无言。 “你怎么能做这样的事？”最后他艰难地说道。 “我是你爹，我想干什么就干什么，”老柯勒说道，“如果你看不惯，门在那儿，你可以走。” 如果瑞奇走出那扇门，他就永远都回不来了。在他父亲的世界里，如果一个人选择离开家门，那么他就永远都不能回头了。瑞奇的喉结上下抽动，前额的血管紧紧绷了起来。瑞奇现在可以选择让步——他可以说几句下台阶的话来保住他的工作、他的未来，以及和他父亲的关系。再说，他已经不再爱那个女孩了，为什么要因为她而离开这个家？瑞奇看着他父亲的眼睛，老柯勒的眼睛一眨不眨。如果瑞奇现在走了，他就会失去他的父亲，失去这个教他航海、教他做生意、教他如何坚强地面对世界的人。他应该走吗？柯勒很清楚自己的生活原则，他认为对的事情他会毫不犹豫地坚持下去。 “我会走的，”他告诉他父亲。那天，瑞奇将他的东西从地下室搬走了。他再次见到父亲已经是几年以后的事了。 现在，瑞奇必须找一份工作。一个玻璃推销员将他推荐给了一家公司，这家公司正准备出高薪招聘像柯勒一样有经验的员工。几天以后，他成为这家玻璃公司的技工。他们公司的业务主要面向纽约的犹太教社区。他和老板相处得很好，四个月后他已经升为公司的工头了。 在接下来的两年中，柯勒一直辛勤工作，并为公司创造了良好的业绩。作为奖励，老板邀请柯勒做他的合伙人，生活又重新好了起来。这几年的夏天，柯勒一直跟随“大西洋沉船潜水员”参加潜水活动，这群潜水员在大西洋上是独一无二的。 “大西洋沉船潜水员”租的船上永远装满了丰盛的食物。潜水员们将最好的熟食、奶酪、意大利香肠和各色点心带到船上，简直可以和罗马的狂欢节相媲美。如果这次有人带了妻子专门做的西红柿奶酪沙拉，那么下次肯定有人带来他妻子精心烹制的鲜嫩猪腰肉来与他一比高下。潜水员甚至会在船的后甲板上烤牛排、鸡肉和从水中抓上来的比目鱼。 但他们的流氓习气甚至超过了对美食的热爱。他们经常在船长毫无思想准备的情况下，大叫一声：“游泳时间到了！”然后脱光衣服，裸体跳入海中，一边游泳一边拿着啤酒罐继续喝酒。他们带着枪上船，然后将动物扔到半空中开枪射击。如果看到举行正式宴会的游船经过，他们会一边向游船仍啤酒罐，一边唱低俗下流的小曲。如果船上的游客对他们不予理睬，他们就会脱下裤子向游船露屁股。 每个“大西洋沉船潜水员”的成员都有外号。年龄最大、头脑最冷静的皮特。古格里瑞是“皇帝”。杰夫。帕加诺由于相貌丑陋，所以被叫做“复仇者”。帕特。鲁尼的外号“铁锤”得自他在海底使用的工具。john.拉琴梅哲的外号是“摇摆的杰克”，因为他总是想裸着身子走来走去。航空宇宙工程师布拉德。舍尔德名为“削木头的迪克”，因为他曾试图将一块无用的浮木削成一艘帆船，结果根本不像一艘帆船。柯勒的绰号得自一次有关理查德。普赖尔吸食可卡因事件的讨论。由于工作的原因，柯勒经常出入布鲁克林毒品泛滥的街区，因此他能够告诉这些潜水员可卡因和“快克”之间的区别。因此他赢得了“'快克'小子”的绰号。 在这期间，柯勒遇到了费莉西亚。贝彻，一个漂亮的黑人姑娘，她是柯勒一个客户的公司的售货员。她可以理解柯勒对潜水的热情。他们于1989年的秋天结婚，婚礼不久后，费莉西亚就怀孕了。 一天晚上，柯勒独自一人在布鲁克林一家西班牙餐馆吃饭。当他坐在吧台旁后，他感到有人在他的背上拍了一下，是他的父亲。五年来，他们两人从未见过面，连一句话也没有说过。老柯勒问瑞奇他是否可以坐在他的旁边，瑞奇同意了。 “你就快当祖父了，”瑞奇说道。他父亲甚至都不知道他已经结了婚。 在接下来的几个小时中，他们一直谈论彼此的生活和家庭，两人都闭口不谈瑞奇以前的女朋友。他父亲让他回自己的公司来工作。瑞奇说，他已经是一家公司的合伙人，他不会再替别人打工了。他父亲建议他们合伙在新泽西开一家自己的玻璃公司，瑞奇同意了。他已经坚持了自己的原则，动摇的是他的父亲而不是他，他很高兴能够再次回到家族事业中来。他也很高兴地发现，如果他有了什么想法，即使这个想法是很痛苦的——就像和他的父亲决裂一样——他也一定会坚持下去。 1990年，柯勒和费莉西亚庆祝他们的第一个孩子出生，是个儿子。柯勒每天都紧张地工作，他将业余时间全部用于同“大西洋沉船潜水员”一起出海探险，他们经常租史蒂夫。比兰达的“瓦胡”号。 相当长的一段时间里，柯勒一直使用“瓦胡”号。但是最近，柯勒经常和比兰达发生争执，有一次甚至差点打起来，柯勒知道是另找一艘船到“多利安”号潜水的时候了。他以前曾随“探索者”号和莱格一起出海过几次——一直以来他都很崇拜莱格。即使莱格的粗鲁和急躁是出了名的，但他对柯勒始终很尊重。1990年和1991年，柯勒曾报名参加了“探索者”号的几次出海，尽管当时查特顿已经在帮助莱格打理生意了，但他和柯勒从来没有在船上碰过面。 1991年的秋天，柯勒听说发现潜艇的消息后，他的生活几乎为此停顿了。一连几天，他被一阵阵冲动折磨着，无论在家还是工作中，他所能做的只是不停地走来走去，完全忽视了他的朋友和家庭。当布伦南打电话告诉他：“你可以参加”时，柯勒感觉到他好像回到了他父亲向他讲述塞格先生的故事的那些日子。他为他的姓氏所代表的含义感到骄傲，他为德国人建造机器的先进工艺感到骄傲；他以前读过的书现在似乎又一页页地从他的眼前翻过，他看到了二战，看到了英勇的德国士兵，还看到了纽约港外拦截德国潜艇的铁网；他似乎回到了他和唐一起设计的准备环游世界的帆船上，似乎登上了海军曾许诺的潜艇，这些都是他用来探索未知世界的工具。他清楚地知道他必须成为发现这艘德国潜艇的潜水员中的一员，因为二十九年来，潜艇一直都是他生命的一部分。