Summary

Chapter 12, “That Sinking Feeling: When Things Go Wrong Under the Sea.” In this chapter, the author explores the science associated with experiences of both being trapped under water in a disabled submarine, and of escaping such a submarine. She describes the science between various means of plugging leaks (including the age-old idea of plugging a hole with a knob of pine, which expands when wet and fills a plug more effectively), and of ensuring that submarine crew can leave a damaged submarine without experiencing the bends (which results when those underwater surface too quickly and suffer from the drastic change of air pressure both inside and outside their bodies). She describes witnessing various tests and training undergone by potential Navy seamen working on submarines, commenting on how the bonds that form between those particular sorts of service personnel seem closer than those between other...