Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have been listed on The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times. Cussler was the founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and numerous other notable underwater wrecks. He was the sole author or main author of more than 80 books. He often placed himself into his books as himself.
Early life Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois, the son of Eric Edward Cussler and Amy Adeline (née Hunnewell), and grew up in Alhambra, California. His father was from Germany and his mother's ancestors were from England.
In his memoir The Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks, Cussler revealed that his father served in the Imperial German Army on the Western Front during World War I. Furthermore, one of Cussler's uncles served in the Imperial German Air Service and became a flying ace, shooting down 14 Allied aeroplanes.Clive Cussler (1996),The Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks, pages 274-275.
He was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout when he was 14 years old. He attended Pasadena City College for two years and then enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. During his service with the Air Force, he was promoted to sergeant and worked as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer for the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).
Career After his discharge from the military, Cussler went to work for the advertising industry, first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies. As part of his duties, Cussler produced radio and television commercials, many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
After the publication in 1996 of Cussler's first nonfiction work, The Sea Hunters, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree in 1997 by the Board of Governors of the State University of New York Maritime College who accepted the work in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis. This was the first time in the college's 123-year history that such a degree had been awarded.
In 2002, Cussler was awarded the Naval Heritage Award from the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation for his efforts concerning marine exploration.
Cussler was a fellow of the Explorers Club of New York, the Royal Geographical Society in London, and the American Society of Oceanographers.
Literary career Clive Cussler began writing in 1965 when his wife took a job working nights for the local police department where they lived in California. After making dinner for the children and putting them to bed, he had no one to talk to and nothing much to do, so he decided to start writing. His most famous character is marine engineer, government agent and adventurer Dirk Pitt. The Dirk Pitt novels frequently have an alternative history premise—such as What if Atlantis were real?" or "What if Abraham Lincoln wasn't assassinated but was kidnapped?"
The first two Pitt novels, The Mediterranean Caper and Iceberg, were relatively conventional maritime thrillers. The third, Raise the Titanic!, established the pattern that subsequent Pitt novels would follow: a blend of adventure and advanced technology, generally involving megalomaniacal villains, lost ships, beautiful women, and sunken treasure.
Cussler's novels almost always begin with a chapter set in the past. These contain none of the novel's main characters and often seem disconnected from the plot until the main characters discover a mystery or secret relating the events of the first chapter to the rest of the story. This is almost always in the form of a long-lost artifact that is important to the villain's or hero's objectives. Often in the first chapter, a ship or airplane carrying a top-secret, important, or dangerous cargo is lost and never found, until it is recovered by a modern character later in the book.
Cussler's novels, like those of Michael Crichton, are examples of techno-thrillers. Cussler prefers fantastic spectacles and outlandish plot devices.
Cussler had seventeen consecutive titles listed on The New York Times fiction best seller list. In 2014, McFarland Publishing released The Clive Cussler Adventures: A Critical Review by Steven Philip Jones, the first critical review textbook of Cussler's novels.
NUMA As an underwater explorer, Cussler discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and wrote non-fiction books about his findings. He was also the initiator of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a non-profit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency that employs Dirk Pitt.
Important finds by NUMA include:
, the ship famed for being the first to come to the aid of survivors. , the first ironclad of the civil war, formerly the icebreaker Enoch Train.
A visual and interactive depiction of Cussler's NUMA Foundation Expeditions has been made available as an extension of NUMA's original website that has since been deleted.
Finds formerly believed to be important include: Mary Celeste, the famed ghost ship that was found abandoned with cargo intact (the identification of this wreck as the Mary Celeste has since been placed into a state of question after one researcher disputed the claim's authenticity).
Adaptations Raise the Titanic! (1980) featuring Richard Jordan as Dirk Pitt, Jason Robards as Admiral James Sandecker, David Selby as Gene Seagram, and Anne Archer as Dana Seagram. Sahara (2005), featuring Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt, Steve Zahn as Al Giordino, William H. Macy as Admiral Sandecker, and Penélope Cruz as Eva Rojas. It grossed $122 million with $241 million in production and distribution expenses.Glenn F. Bunting, $78 million of red ink?, Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2007.
Personal life Clive Cussler married Barbara Knight in 1955, and they remained married for nearly 50 years until her death in 2003. Together they had three children—Teri, Dirk, and Dayna—four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
He was an avid car collector of classic automobiles that are on display at the Cussler Museum in Arvada, Colorado. Clive Cussler was a part-time resident of both Arizona and Colorado.
Cussler died at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on February 24, 2020, at age 88 of undisclosed causes.
Bibliography
Dirk Pitt Adventures # Title Publication date 1 The Mediterranean Caper 1973 2 Iceberg 1975 3 Raise the Titanic! 1976 4 Vixen 03 1978 5 Night Probe 1981 6 Pacific Vortex! 1983 7 Deep Six 1984 8 Cyclops 1986 9 Treasure 1988 10 Dragon 1990 11 Sahara 1992 12 Inca Gold 1994 13 Shock Wave 1996 14 Flood Tide 1997 15 Atlantis Found 1999 16 Valhalla Rising 2001 17 Trojan Odyssey 2003 18 Black Wind Đ 2004 19 Treasure of Khan Đ 2006 20 Arctic Drift Đ 2008 21 Crescent Dawn Đ 2010 22 Poseidon's Arrow Đ 2012 23 Havana Storm Đ 2014 24 Odessa Sea Đ 2016 25 Celtic Empire Đ 2019 26 Clive Cussler's The Devil's Sea ĐĐ 2021 27 Clive Cussler's The Corsican Shadow ĐĐ 2023 28 Clive Cussler Obsidian Sky ĐĐ November 3, 2026
The NUMA Files This series of books is based on the character Kurt Austin, Team Leader of NUMA's Special Assignments division and his adventures. Some characters from the Pitt novels appear such as Sandecker, Al Giordino, Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yaeger and St. Julien Perlmutter. Pitt makes brief appearances in the books Serpent, White Death, Polar Shift, Devil's Gate, The Storm, Zero Hour, and Ghost Ship and is mentioned in Lost City. Juan Cabrillo, the captain of the ship Oregon, also made a brief appearance in The Pharaoh's Secret.
# Title Publication date 1 Serpent * Jun 1, 1999 2 Blue Gold * Aug 1, 2000 3 Fire Ice * Jun 3, 2002 4 White Death * Jun 23, 2003 5 Lost City * Jul 22, 2004 6 Polar Shift * Aug 30, 2005 7 The Navigator * Jun 5, 2007 8 Medusa * Jul 2, 2009 9 Devil's Gate † Nov 14, 2011 10 The Storm † May 29, 2012 11 Zero Hour † May 28, 2013 12 Ghost Ship † May 27, 2014 13 The Pharaoh's Secret † Nov 17, 2015 14 Nighthawk † Jun 19, 2017 15 The Rising Sea † Mar 13, 2018 16 Sea of Greed † Nov 6, 2018 17 Journey of the Pharaohs † Mar 10, 2020 18 Fast Ice † Mar 9, 2021 19 Clive Cussler's Dark Vector †† May 24, 2022 20 Clive Cussler's Condor's Fury †† Sept 5, 2023 21 Clive Cussler's Desolation Code †† Nov 17, 202422Clive Cussler's Cold Fire ††Jun 2, 2026
The Oregon Files This series of books features a ship named the Oregon, which Cussler introduced in the Dirk Pitt Adventures novel Flood Tide (1997). While appearing to be a decrepit freighter, it is actually a high-tech advanced ship used by an unnamed and mysterious "Corporation" under the leadership of Juan Cabrillo. The ship is run like a business, with its crew being shareholders, taking jobs for the CIA and other agencies to help stop crime and terrorism. The crew is adept at disguises, combat, computer hacking and more to aid them in their missions. Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and Dirk Pitt all make cameo appearances in the fourth volume, Skeleton Coast (Cabrillo speaks to Pitt on the telephone; and Austin and Zavala appear at the end).
# Title Publication date 1 Golden Buddha 2003 2 Sacred Stone 2004 3 Dark Watch 2005 4 Skeleton Coast 2006 5 Plague Ship 2008 6 Corsair 2009 7 The Silent Sea 2010 8 The Jungle 2011 9 Mirage 2013 10 Piranha 2015 11 The Emperor's Revenge 2016 12 Typhoon Fury 2017 13 Shadow Tyrants 2018 14 Final Option 2019 15 Marauder 2020 16 Clive Cussler's Hellburner ╛ 2022 17 Clive Cussler's Fire Strike ╛ 2023 18 Clive Cussler's Ghost Soldier ╛ 2024 19 Clive Cussler's Quantum Tempest ╛ 2025
Isaac Bell Adventures These books are set mostly in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century. They center around Isaac Bell, a brilliant investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, which appears to be modeled after the real-life Pinkerton Agency. Like Pitt, Bell has an affinity for automobiles and is a crack shot. The first book reveals that Bell survives into 1950 with a wife and grown children. Though the setting is a century ago, the books still qualify as techno-thrillers, since they feature the advanced technology of that time such as private express trains, telegraphs, telephones, dreadnought battleships and early airplanes. Isaac Bell also is a principal character of the background story in the Fargo Adventures novel The Gray Ghost.
# Title Publication date 1 The Chase 2007 2 The Wrecker ‖ 2009 3 The Spy ‖ 2010 4 The Race ‖ 2011 5 The Thief ‖ 2012 6 The Striker ‖ 2013 7 The Bootlegger ‖ 2014 8 The Assassin‖ 2015 9 The Gangster ‖ 2016 10 The Cutthroat ‖ 2017 11 The Titanic Secret § 2019 12 The Saboteurs § 2021 13 Clive Cussler's The Sea Wolves §§ 2022 14 Clive Cussler's The Heist §§ 2024 15 Clive Cussler's The Iron Storm §§ 2025
Fargo Adventures The series focuses on Sam and Remi Fargo, a married couple who are professional treasure hunters.
# Title Publication date 1 Spartan Gold ^ 2009 2 Lost Empire ^ 2010 3 The Kingdom ^ 2011 4 The Tombs + 2012 5 The Mayan Secrets + 2013 6 The Eye of Heaven × 2014 7 The Solomon Curse × 2015 8 Pirate ** 2016 9 The Romanov Ransom ** 2017 10 The Gray Ghost ** 2018 11 The Oracle ** 2019 12 Wrath of Poseidon ** 202013The Serpent's Eye ₱Apr 2027
Non-fiction Title Publication date The Sea Hunters: True Adventures With Famous Shipwrecks ‡ 1996 Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed ‡ 1998 The Sea Hunters II: Diving the World's Seas for Famous Shipwrecks ‡ 2002 Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt 2011 Built to Thrill: More Classic Automobiles from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt 2016
Children's books Title Publication date The Adventures of Vin Fiz 2006 The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy 2010
(*) indicates books co-authored with Paul Kemprecos.
(Đ) indicates books co-authored with Dirk Cussler.