In Secret Waters

Erik Hazen is an enigma. Born and raised on the not-so-chic side of the Hamptons on Long Island, he belongs to a family of traditional fisherman known locally as Bonackers. For eight generations, his relatives made their living from the sea: haul seining, trap netting, clamming, and scalloping. But by the 1980’s, with that way of life dying out, Hazen breaks away to attend Annapolis, serve as a Navy SEAL, and finally take over a small boat-building business, which he grows into a sought-after brand.
But Erik has an obsession. The sunken liner Andrea Doria, which lies in deep water off Montauk Point, has been a magnet for extreme divers since its sinking in 1956. After his over 200 dives to it, Hazen is the acknowledged expert on the wreck. Or he was, until his young wife drowned inside the ship in a failed dive. The tragedy led Hazen to give up his boat-building business and return to a simpler way of life as a charter boat captain.
Now, ten years later, he is approached by a woman who claims that a vast fortune in stolen diamonds, lost since WWII, may be buried in the ship’s wreckage. If it can be found, the legendary Führer Gems can help make restitution to the families of thousands of Holocaust victims.
Hazen must get past his ghosts — and a group of modern-day terrorists who have information on the lost treasure — to go back to the Andrea Doria. The stakes are high and the challenges many, in this tale of adventure from the streets of New York City to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Richard Weissmann has been a teacher, reporter, environmental writer, diver, and fisherman. He lives on Long Island"s south shore not far from the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.