The Sea Hunters II: More True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks

Clive Cussler...his writings are always a pleasure to read. They are well written, move along quickly, and characters and plots are easy to follow.

This second series book was as goos or better than the first.

This book is full of "Cusslerettes" - those short, facinating narratives into the world of history. Forget the failed searches and insight into his life (though they too are written wonderfully and a pleasure to read) and enjoy the incredible tales of men and machines set in situations that dumbfound. Those short stories were real page turners- and true!

My first Cussler book was Raise the Titanic. I haven't been a steady reader but have enjoyed the books that I have read. When I read The Sea Hunters (the first one) I was impressed in the diversity that Cussler showed. Not all fiction authors are comfortable in the nonfiction arena. But Cussler was or is.This second outing of Sea Hunters is as good as the first. If you liked the first one than you'll probably enjoy the second. For me, two stories stand out more than the others. L'Oisear Blanc (The White Bird) concerns the Paris to New York attempt of Nungesser and Coli in 1927. While there were many attempts to capture the $25,000 prize for being the first to make this trip, it was Nungesser and Coli that preceded Lindberg by mere days. Of course, Lindberg made it and Nungesser and Coli have never been heard of after they apparently failed in their attempt. Working on slim clues, Cussler made several attempts to find their downed aircraft in the back woods and lakes of Maine. The other story that impresses me is R. M. S. Carpathia. It was the Carpathia that raced to the aid of Titanic survivors in 1912 only to be lost to a German U Boat a few years later.Cussler manages to write in a relaxed manner. His tales are spellbinding. I'm sure that in the years to come he may be remembered with the other great adverturers of the 20th Century. This is a good read.

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 loc