Aquanaut: The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue

by Rick Stanton

Overview

The enthralling inside story of the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand—told by the leader of the daring underwater rescue mission.

In July 2018, twelve boys and their soccer coach disappeared into the Tham Luang Cave in Thailand.

Trapped miles beneath the surface, not even the Thai Navy SEALs had the skills to bring them to safety. With the floodwater rising rapidly, time was running out.

Any hope of survival rested on Rick Stanton, a retired British firefighter with a living room full of homemade cave-diving equipment. As unlikely as it seemed, Rick and his partner, John Volanthen, were regarded as the A-team for exactly this kind of mission.

The Thai Cave Rescue was the culmination of a lifelong obsession, requiring every ounce of skill and ingenuity accumulated by Rick over a four decade pursuit of the unknown.

While the world held its breath, Rick, John, and their assembled team raced against time in the face of near impossible odds. There was simply no precedent for what they were attempting to do. . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639363018
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	08/09/2022
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	224,095
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Rick Stanton MBE served for years as a firefighter, but it was his “hobby” of cave-diving that was his passion He has quietly spent forty years exploring caves around the world, steadily building his unique skill set as he defied limits, pushed boundaries, and discovered parts of the earth that had never been seen before. Along the way, he and his dive partners became the ones to call for the most challenging cave rescue and recovery missions. In 2018, he found himself on the world's stage when he led the team that rescued a children’s soccer team that was trapped inside Thailand's flooded Tham Luang cave. Rick needed to rely on all the experiences and friendships he'd gathered along the way, as he carefully planned and then successfully executed one of the most noteworthy rescue missions in modern history.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The End of the Line 1

Part 1 Plan

1 Water Flowing Underground 11

2 First Things First 41

3 Finding What Works 69

Part 2 Prepare

4 Teammates and Rivals 101

5 Making Progress 133

6 A Force of Nature 151

Part 3 Practice

7 Spirit of Adventure 177

8 In My Element 211

9 Calling Out the Cavalry 245

10 Mind What You're Doing 273

Part 4 Perform

11 Bunch of Baldy Boffins 309

12 Once in a Lifetime 341

13 Surface Reflections 373

Notes 397

Glossary 421

Acknowledgements 427

Editorial Reviews

"A case study in courage.

Ron Howard

"The British divers are all heroes.

Clive Cussler

"This is a unique and heart-pounding story of courage and survival. Whether readers followed the news coverage of Tham Luang closely or not, they will benefit from reading Stanton's chronicle, which pairs well with the new documentary film, The Rescue."

Booklist

Praise for Rick Stanton and Aquanaut:

From the Publisher

"Aquanaut is an exceptional, true-life adventure book. Heroism wins the day."

Forbes

"Diver Rick Stanton relives the rescue of the century.

The Sunday Times (London)

"The rescue was fantastic, it really was.

HRH Prince William

Remarkable. This book is the chronicle of a man from a humble background who worked devilishly hard to become accomplished in his beloved avocation, succeeded, and was willing to go anywhere to help people in the most dire cave disasters. Mr. Stanton shuns the ‘hero’ label for his Thai cave triumph, but your (claustrophobic) reviewer deems it appropriate.

Wall Street Journal

"One of the great stories of our time.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Rick Stanton himself narrates his description of the moment when he and a diving partner were sure that the boys trapped in a Thai cave in 2018 were still alive. Then narrator Don Gilet voices the author’s account of the ensuing rescue, replacing Stanton’s rough-hewn voice with smoother tones. The story often goes back and forth between the 2018 rescue and other dives the author made over the years, which can be distracting. Stanton also has a tendency to write clinically about his rescue plan, and Gilet echoes that tone. However, this flat tone flows into a powerful emotional moment when Gilet shares how Stanton was suddenly flooded with emotions in the midst of the suspenseful rescue operation. Stanton’s story isn’t just about diving. Gilet also brings to life Stanton’s relatable feelings about not fitting in throughout his life. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile

2021-10-16
A British cave diver reflects on his career and his participation in a well-known death-defying rescue mission.

When Stanton, who was admittedly apathetic as a youth, watched his first cave-diving documentary at 17, he knew he had found his purpose. He arrived at college the following year and immediately joined both the caving and diving clubs. His love of underground exploration consumed him enough that he dropped out of school and became a firefighter to support his spelunking habit. For the next 38 years, his adventures took him to Britain, Western Europe, and Mexico, where he helped map out underground terrain, boldly experimented with caving equipment, and, on occasion, assisted in the recovery of bodies. Then, in the summer of 2018, a friend told him about a group of teenage Thai football players who had become stranded inside a cave after monsoon rains blocked the exit. Stanton flew to Thailand to assist in the removal of what he believed would be their remains from the cave. Even after he discovered the boys were all alive, he confronted obstacles at every turn: on-again, off-again rains that threatened to flood the caves even more; clumsy and dangerous rescue attempts by unskilled Navy SEALS; and a lack of proper equipment to save the boys. Using an unorthodox recovery method, Stanton led a successful rescue mission that earned him worldwide acclaim. The tale of the author’s exploits is undeniably exciting, but the text, co-written by Dealy, is weighed down by pedestrian details that slow the narrative pace. This problem is further exacerbated by the way he braids chapters pertaining to the rescue with those pertaining to highlights from his long career in cave diving. The result is an excessively detailed book most likely to appeal only to those who share Stanton’s subterranean passions.

A fun adventure story marred by flawed storytelling.

Kirkus Reviews