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Several years ago I picked up a copy of THE SEA HUNTERS by Clive Cussler. Although I had enjoyed nearly a dozen of his Dirk Pitt novels, a book about the true adventures of the real NUMA team sounded interesting. Interesting didn't begin to describe it. By the time I'd finished reading, the book was a bestseller and I was a lifelong fan. I began tapping into his NUMA website (www.numa.net) on a regular basis to see what new projects were afoot and what discoveries had been made. Last spring, I was lucky enough to interview Cussler on the release of his latest Dirk Pitt novel VALHALLA RISING and was rewarded with even more information about his research into maritime history. It's this history that forms the basis for both his fictional stories and real life expeditions and his dedication to contributing to that body of historical knowledge is admirable. In THE SEA HUNTERS II, Cussler's avid interest and unselfish pursuit is simply defined: if it's lost, he wants to find it.
THE SEA HUNTERS II, like its predecessor, contains not only accounts of the various expeditions undertaken by Cussler's National Underwater Marine Agency but also gives readers a historical recreation of the events that took place at each fateful site. Utilizing the archives of governmental agencies both here and abroad, as well as available eyewitness accounts and personal records, Cussler engages the reader with reenactments that set the stage for his narration of each NUMA discovery. The first five sections of the book concentrate on NUMA's exploration of Civil War wreckage, focusing on the copious naval battles that took place over control of the Mississippi River and the eventual siege of Charleston. Cussler's professed love of southern history and the ships that played a part in it is evident as the tales of heroism and tragedy unfold upon the waters of the mighty Mississippi. Other chapters of THE SEA HUNTERS II recount the international exploits of Cussler and his fellow researchers in the far corners of the world from the warm Caribbean waters surrounding Haiti to the treacherous shores of South Africa and the tumultuous seas of the northern Atlantic.
One of the most fascinating stories is the mystery surrounding the Mary Celeste, a "ghost" ship whose crew disappeared without a trace and spawned a legend that has tantalized maritime enthusiasts for decades. While much of the tale is speculation, NUMA was finally successful in pinpointing the resting place of this fabled ship. Another mystery that still remains unresolved is the disappearance of the plane and the pilots who attempted the first transatlantic crossing from Paris to New York. NUMA's research uncovered convincing evidence that The White Bird actually achieved the first nonstop crossing --- prior to Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis --- they just didn't make it all the way down the coast to New York. Their crash site remains undiscovered in the boggy wilds of Maine, but the story of NUMA's attempts to locate it while sorting through the fuzzy first-hand recollections and baffling psychic revelations make for great reading.
Perhaps the most famous and heavily exploited maritime tragedy was the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic in 1912. The Carpathia, the ship that attempted to rescue Titanic survivors, is featured prominently in all accounts of that fateful night but, beyond that, she sailed out of the picture never to be heard from again. Cussler, of course, was not content to leave Carpathia as a footnote in Titanic's history, thus the further adventures of Carpathia and her final demise by a German U-boat become a chapter of NUMA's history as well.
With the release of THE SEA HUNTERS II just before the holidays, this reviewer hopes many of you will find a copy in your stocking Christmas morning. It's 400 plus pages are a masterful blend of history, adventure and humor --- enlightening and entertaining --- as Cussler intended. His lifelong mission has been to leave the world more enriched than he found it and perhaps to inspire us all to follow a similar path in our own way. "Each day is future history. So don't step lightly. The trick is to leave tracks that can be followed."
--- Reviewed by Ann Bruns (BkPageWC@aol.com)
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