Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed Page 11

  Pitt and Giordino are pitted against the Zolars as they search forHuascar's treasure. They travel an underground river in a smallHovercraft to rescue Gunn and Smith. A tribe of Indians seeking thereturn of their ceremonial artifacts help Pitt dispatch the Zolars' men.In the end, the treasure is saved, and the river becomes a major benefitto the people living in the desert.

  Inca Gold is a slight departure from the normal Cussler style. Insteadof the dead-run pace of most of the Pitt novels, Inca Gold delves intohistory, and more of the book than usual is written as narrative.

  Shock WaveShock Wave was' published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster in 1996, withthe Pocket Book paperback edition following in December of the sameyear. After the break in tension in Inca Gold, Clive returns with atale of high stakes, with an evil mining family intent on destroying sealife and maybe the Hawaiian Islands.

  Shock Wave begins with a ship of convicts lost in a storm. After fiercefighting and the need to abandon the ship on a small raft, few of theconvicts and crew survive. The few who do set up a colony on a remoteisland they later find is littered with diamonds, forming the basis of avast fortune.

  In the current day, a group of tourists is visiting an island offAntarctica when a mysterious plague hits that kills land and sea animalsand several of the tourists. Pitt's love interest, Maeve Fletcher, isone of the tourists' guides. Pitt arrives on the island by helicopterand helps the tourists to safety. He then saves their cruise ship fromcrashing into a rocky shoreline.

  The evil Dorsett family is introduced-Deirdre and her rotten, evilsister Boudicca, led by their father, Arthur Dorsett. The only goodperson in the family is Maeve Fletcher, who uses her great-great-greatgrandmother's last name. Perlmutter plays an important role, explainingthe history of the Dorsett clan to Pitt.

  Pitt, in an effort to trace the cause of marine-life deaths, travels towestern Canada to inspect one of Dorsett's mines. He is introduced to amining engineer named Cussler, who explains how sound waves are beingused to mine diamonds. Cussler explains that the waves travel throughwater and converge on different locations, wreaking havoc. We now knowthe cause of the worldwide devastation.

  Pitt, Giordino and Maeve hatch a plan to rescue her twin boys, who havebeen kidnapped by her father.

  Unfortunately, they are captured in New Zealand and taken aboard theDorsett yacht, from which they are set adrift in a small, inflatableboat to die in the ocean.

  Luckily, they find the wreck of a sailboat on an island, fashion alarger wind-powered craft and make their way toward civilization.

  We learn that the acoustic waves created by Dorsett's operation willconverge on Hawaii and wipe it off the map if they are not stopped.

  Meanwhile, Arthur Dorsett is out to corner the market in coloredstones. He plans to flood the market with diamonds to drive the pricedown to almost nothing, making colored stones more valuable.

  A plan is developed to reflect Dorsett's acoustic waves. A giantparabolic dish will be lowered in the ocean from the deck of the HowardHughes-designed ship Glomar Explorer. Still at sea in their fabricatedcraft, Pitt, Giordino and Fletcher finally reach Gladiator Island, homeof the Dorsett clan.

  The plan to divert the acoustic waves is successful, but the reflectionsends the sound beam directly at Gladiator island. Sandecker warnsPitt, but he doesn't have time to escape. When the wave hits, thevolcanoes erupt in a firestorm of ash and lava. Pitt kills Arthur andDeirdre Dorsett, while Giordino eliminates Boudicca. In a plot twistClive has used before, we learn Boudicca is actually a man dressed andliving as a woman.

  Giordino escapes by helicopter with Maeve's twin sons, but with no moreroom on the helicopter, Pitt and Maeve are forced to flee in the Dorsettyacht.

  During a shower Of lava and ash, Pitt manages to steer the yacht intothe ocean, but not before Maeve dies in his arms. Loren Smith shows upat Pitt's apartment after he is rescued, but Dirk asks her just to leavehim alone.

  Flood TideThe fourteenth Dirk Pitt novel was published in hardcover in 1997 bySimon & Schuster and one can safely assume in paperback by Pocket Booksin 1998. Flood Tide follows Cussler tradition and begins in the past.

  A Chinese cargo ship loaded with priceless artwork sails into an intensestorm that sinks her. Only two people survive, and they wash up on anunknown shore.

  We next meet an Immigration and Naturalization officer, Julia Lee, whoserves as Pitt's love interest.

  Lee is aboard a Chinese cargo ship loaded with illegal immigrantsseeking a new life in the United States.

  Sentenced to die, she is sent to a lake in Washington State, where thosetoo sick to become slaves are killed.

  Pitt arrives on a vacation in Washington, attempting to recuperate fromthe thrashing he suffered in Shock Wave. Curious about strange affairson the lake, he investigates the home of a rich industrialist named QinShang. Videotaping the bottom of the lake, he finds it littered withdead bodies and determines that Shang's lake retreat is nothing morethan a human smuggling operation.

  Rescuing a group of immigrants who are sentenced to die in the lake, hehelps them escape in an old Cris-Craft boat while being pursued byShang's security guards. We learn that Shang's operation is the frontfor a Chinese-government-approved plan to reduce population. And welearn that the S.S. United States, a powerful cruise ship retired in theearly 1960s, is being refitted in a shipyard near Hong Kong. Inaddition, Shang has built a huge cargo port named Sungari in a bayou inLouisiana.

  Pitt and Giordino are ordered to search the S.S.

  United States, and they enlist the help of a covert corporation mannedby ex-intelligence operatives. After examining the cruise ship, theyare attacked by a Chinese destroyer and manage to sink the aggressor.

  Pitt returns home, and upon entering his aircraft hangar/home, he isattacked by assassins hired by Shang. He manages to kill the attackers.Later, with Lee as his escort, he attends a party hosted by Shang inMaryland. After visiting Perlmutter, Pitt and Lee are again chased byassassins, and he escapes in his 1929 Duesenberg.

  Next, Pitt decides to investigate Sungari with Giordino. We learn thatthe S.S. United States will be traveling up the Mississippi River, whereit will be moored at New Orleans to be used as a floating casino.

  NUMA now decides that Sungari is part of Shang's plan to divert theMississippi River into the Atchafalaya River by blowing a bridge atopthe Mississippi's levee and channeling the water into a canal he hasbuilt. Shang's plan is to have the S.S. United States bury her hullcrossways in the river to form a dam.

  The S.S. United States is attacked by National Guard forces lining theriver but continues upstream. Pitt and Giordino land on the ship fromhang gliders. The explosives ignite and start the flood, but Pittmanages to take control of the S.S. United States and drives the shipinto the levee to plug the opening.

  Pitt next decides to locate the Chinese cargo ship that was lost at thestart of the novel. Perlmutter determines the ship sank in LakeMichigan. Finding the survivors from the wreck, Pitt pinpoints the areaand then mounts a salvage operation and removes the priceless artwork.Pitt has asked Perlmutter to leak a report to Shang that the wreck hasbeen found. When Shang finds out, he races to Lake Michigan with thehopes of recovering the already-salvaged treasures himself.

  In a fight on the ocean bottom, Pitt kills Shang. At the end, thetreasure is displayed in a museum.

  NonfictionThe Sea HunterSIn 1996, Clive branched out in nonfiction with The Sea Hunters.

  Published by Simon & Schuster in hardcover and followed in 1997 by aPocket Books paperback, the book was an unexpected success. It reachednumber five on the New York Times best-seller list in hardcover, and theintroduction of the paperback saw the book rise to number one on theTimes list, giving Clive his first time at the top slot.

  Co-written with Craig Dirgo, the book details the exploits of Clive'snonprofit foundation NUMA, which is named after the organization in thePitt novels.

  When the idea for a book about shipwrecks was presented to Simon &Schuster, the publisher was less than
enthralled. Peter Lampack,Clive's agent, distinctly remembers one editor glancing out the windowduring the presentation as if he was distracted-and totallydisinterested.

  Knowing that most historical books are about as interesting to read asthe back of a cereal box, the authors set out to create a book withaccurate historical facts that read like a novel. The history of theships and their battles remained true to the facts but was enhanced withdialogue. The actual search for the vessel was written by Clive infirst person to give the reader an insight into the process that goes onwhen a NUMA search is launched.

  An excellent introduction gives the reader insight into Clive and hishistory as well as the formation of NUMA and its role in historic marinesearch and discovery.

  The book features nine of the searches NUMA has undertaken. Beginningwith the steamship Lexington, which burned and sank in Long IslandSound, the events surrounding the disaster are explored and theaftermath chronicled.

  The Republic of Texas Navy ship Zavala is featured next, followed by achapter about the U.S.S. Cumberland and the Confederate raider C.S.S.

  Florida. The fourth section details the strange life of the C.S.S.

  Arkansas, a Confederate ironclad whose career was short but exciting.

  Featured next is the U.S.S. Carondelet, a Union ironclad built for thewar to control western rivers.

  Section Six chronicles the interesting tale of the C.S.S. Hunley, thefirst submarine to sink a ship in battle. The chapter proved popularwith readers, many of whom were unaware that submarines had even beenused in the Civil War.

  In a change of pace, Section Seven is about a disaster and a search thattake place on land. "The Lost Locomotive of Kiowa Creek" is about atrain thatplunged into a river in a flood, and the search to find the truth aboutwhat happened to the locomotive took more turns than a mountain road.

  For Section Eight, the book travels to Europe and chronicles wrecks fromWorld War I in an expedition that NUMA launched in 1984. Section Nineis the tale of an event from World War II largely ignored by history.The tragedy of the sinking of the Leopoldville and the subsequent rescueefforts could be a book in itself.

  Featuring a middle section of photographs and richly drawn maps alongwith a listing of ships NUMA has located over the years, The Sea Huntersgives the Cussler fan both insight into the man behind Dirk Pitt and arich appreciation for the old adage that sometimes truth is strangerthan fiction.

  A Concordance of Dirk Piift NovelsThe Continuing CharactersCussler, Clive. Author-adventurer who frequently turns up in the Pittadventures. A big man with graying hair, a white beard and blue-greeneyes. Races Pitt at the Richmond old car races in Dragon. In Sahara,he's a prospector searching for a Confederate shipwreck in the SaharaDesert. He stands the same height as Pitt but is more heavy than thin.

  In Inca Gold, he's the owner of the Box Car Cafe and described as a tallman in his early sixties, with gray hair and a white beard; he boughtthe cafe when he gave up prospecting. In Shock Wave, he's the mineengineer and chief foreman at the Dorsett mine on Kunghit Island whohelps explain the inner workings of the mine to Pitt.

  In Shock Wave, he's the successful owner of fishing boats who loans Pittand Giordino a houseboat.

  Giordino, Albert Cassius. Attended elementary school with Dirk Pitt andhas known him since kindergarten.

  Attended high school with Pitt and played tackle on the high schoolfootball team. Attended the United States Air Force Academy. Attendedflight school with Dirk Pitt. Served two tours in Vietnam. Still holdsthe rank of captain in the Air Force. Joined NUMA along with Pitt atthe request of Admiral James Sandecker.

  Lives in a recently purchased condominium in Alexandria, Virginia, wherenone of the furniture or decor matches. Five feet four inches inheight, weight one hundred seventy-five pounds. Of Italian ancestry, hehas dark curly hair, a nose that hints at his Roman heritage and dark,swarthy skin on a round face. Has a barrel chest and muscular build.Usually has a Faganlike grin on his face. His eyes are a twinklingwalnut color. He is missing the little finger on his right hand afterhe jammed it in the barrel of a gun that was fired by Delphi Moran. Hehas been shot more times than an Arizona highway sign. His body showsthe effects of numerous abrasions, contusions and broken bones.Assistant special projects director of the National Underwater andMarine Agency. His hobby is stealing Admiral Sandecker's custom-madecigars.

  Gunn, Ruth. Childhood nickname: "Beaver Eyes." A graduate of the U.S.Naval Academy, first in his class.

  Formerly held the rank of commander in the United States Navy. JoinedNUMA at the same time as Pitt and Giordino. Former titles includedirector of logistics for the National Underwater and Marine Agency andoverseer of NUMA's oceanographic projects. Was skipper of the NUMAresearch vessel First Attempt in The Mediterranean Caper. In Raise theTitanic! he wascaptain of the submersible Sappho 1. Current title is deputy director ofthe National Underwater and Marine Agency. Nominated for Nobel PeacePrize for his work in Sahara but did not win. Has a thinning hairlineand wears thick horn-rimmed glasses. Has a Roman nose. Short and thinwith narrow shoulders and matching hips. Wears a Timer watch.

  Second in command of NUMA under Sandecker.

  Hunt, Leigh. Clive's friend in real life but turns up frequently inPitt adventures in a variety of disguises.

  In Treasure, he's a reporter with the BBC. In Sahara, he's the chiefpilot of the Texas. In Inca Gold, he's an engineer searching for oilwho locates a vast underwater river in a cave in the Castle DomeMountains.

  In Shock Wave, he's a colonel at Walter Reed Medical Center who performsthe autopsies on people killed by the acoustic waves. In Flood Tide,he's the captain of the Princess Dou WanKamil, Han. Secretary-general of the United Nations.

  Described as a tall, attractive woman with a smooth brown face andcompelling coal-black eyes. Has a long-stemmed neck, delicate featuresand haunting looks. In Treasure, she is age forty-two and has a tawnyComplexion and long jet-black hair that falls down to her shoulders.

  Stands five feet eleven inches tall in heels. Never married. Herfather was a filmmaker, her mother a teacher. A gourmet cook with aPh.D. in Egyptian antiquities, she landed one of the few jobs open toMuslim women, as a researcher with the Ministry of Culture. Worked herway up to director of antiquities and later head of the Department ofInformation. She caught the eye of then-PresidentMubarek, who asked her to serve on the Egyptian delegation to the UnitedNations General Assembly.

  Five years later, Kamil was vice chairman when Javier Perez de Cuellarstepped down. Because the men ahead of her in line refused the job, shewas appointed to serve as secretary-general in the tenuous hope shemight mend the widening cracks in the organization.

  Mercier, Allan. U.S. national security advisor. A plump, baldingcharacter with a Falstaff face that masks a shrewd analytical mind.

  Wears ever-rumpled bargain-priced suits with white linen handkerchiefssloppily stuffed in the breast pocket. Wears Ben Franklin spectacles.

  Milligan, Lieutenant Commander Heidi. U.S. Navy lieutenant commanderassigned to the Norfolk Navy Yard. Has eleven years to go beforeretirement as of Vixen 03. Attended Wellesley College. No children, asshe had a hysterectomy. Had affairs with Admiral Bass, with Pitt andwith Shaw in Night Probe! Described as almost as tall as Pitt when sheis wearing riding boots. Looks to be in her early thirties, and herskin shows no sign of a summer tan. In Night Probe!

  she is said to have graduated fourteenth in her class at Annapolis.

  Described as having a svelte body measuring six feet from manicuredtoenails to the roots of her naturally ash-blond hair. Has Castilianbrown eyes, the right eye having an imperfection at the bottom of theiris, a small pie-shaped splash of gray.

  Working on a doctorate at Princeton University.

  Oates, Douglas. U.S. secretary of state. Has neatly trimmedslate-colored hair and brown eyes.

  Perhnutter, St. JuHen. Close family friend of the Pitt family. Has afifty-million-dollar inheritance. Lives on a Street in the Georgetownsection of Washington, D.C. One
of the world's foremost authorities onshipwrecks and owner of one of the world's finest maritime libraries- Agourmand and bon vivant who has a four thousand-bottle wine cellar.

  Weighs over four hundred pounds but is remarkably solid for a huge man.

  Has gray hair and gray beard, a crimson face with tulip nose andsky-blue eyes. His car is a chauffeur-driven 1955 Rolls-Royce SilverDawn with coachwork by Hooper & Company. The automobile is paintedsilver and green and features a straight-six engine with overheadvalves.

  Pitt, Dirk Eric. Born at Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, California, toSenator George and Barbara (Nash) Pitt. According to his family tree,his paternal ancestors were Gypsies who migrated from Spain to Englandin the seventeenth century. Great-grandfather was a steam locomotiveengineer on the Santa Fe Railroad. Has all uncle who is one of SanFrancisco's leading bon vivants. Another uncle on his mother's side isPercy Nash, one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project.