Clive Cussler, Author

Clive Cussler was born in 1931 in Aurora, Illinois but grew up in Alhamora, California. He spent two years at Pasadena City College and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a mechanic at the base. It was while in the U.S. service Dirk that found a love of snorkeling, and it would serve him well for many of the plots in his novels

. While his wife Barbara (Knight) worked nights at the local police station and after playing dad to their children and getting them to bed he found he had no one to talk to so he began his long career of writing.

Cussler then began his writing in 1965. Dusting off an old typewriter they had he pecked away to finish the first novel. This was of course before computers so the process was certainly slower. But he kept pounding away to finish the first of many, many novels.

He and Barbara had married in 1955 and were together almost fifty years toll her death in 2003.

Cussler's books have a blend of high technology, high adventures and almost always combine sunken treasurers, lost ships and somewhere in the plot will be a beautiful woman.

One of his most famous novels' characters was Dirk Pitt . Pitt is the protagnoist named after his own son, Dirk. Pitt's character is a marine engineer, adventurer and a government agent. One could compare Pitt to another James Bond. Cussler's novels almost always include both fact and fiction. He is the founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Maritime Agency, NUMA for short. NUMA is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving maritime heritage. Together with his crew they have found significant shipwrecks and artifacts.

Today Cussler is internationally known as an authority on lost shipwrecks.

He has won the coveted Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration.

Some of the more famous finds include Carpathia , the Manassas, Hunley. The Carpathia sunk the 17th of July 1918 after being torpedoed by a German submarine off the southern Irish coast. This was the ship famous for rescuing the survivors of the Titanic. They arrived only two hours later and rescued 712 survivors. In 2000 Clive and his crew announced his organization NUMA had found the wreck of the Carpathia. Captain Arthur Henry Rostron was awarded a medal for rescuing the survivors of the Titanic.

The Hunley was sunk February 17, 1864 after torpedoing the USS Housatonic outside Charlotte Harbour, S.C. It was lost until 1995 when Cussler and his team discovered it in 1995. Fifteen years of searching had gone by when on May 3, 1995 Cussler announced the find. He has has been interested in maritime history his whole life and he is quoted as saying "I have never made claim to being an archaeologist. He is quoted as saying I'm purely a dilettante who loves the challenge of solving a mystery; and there is no greater mystery than a lost shipwreck.: This is what makes his novels so compelling. He places facts within his plots along with his adventurous fiction.

The Hunley is on display in North Charleston, S. C. at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River.

Cussler was inducted into the International Scuba Hall of Fame (ISDHE) in 2012. Some of the more famous inductees include LLoyd Bridges, Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Eugenie Clark and many underwater photographers, biologists and patrons.

The first movie depicting one of his novels was "Raise The Titaanic". And then in 2005, the Sahara was filmed with Matthew McConaughley in the starring role. But Clive was not thrilled with Hollywood. Production costs exceeded the money at the box office.

Cussler has a museum Cussler Museum in Arvada, Colorado. His daughter Teri manages the museum. Please see Cussler Museum. There are close to 100 classic automobiles in his collection. If you love classic cars this is a must see museum.

• 1930 Packard Speedster Runabout
• 1929 Dusenberg
• 1933 American Austin Bantam
• 1931 Stutz Boattail
• 1911 Locomobile

Cussler and his son Dirk lovingly restored a 1946 Ford Club Coupe which he bought years ago for $400.

One of famous series is the Fargo series which portrays a treasure-hunting team pursuing the hunt around the globe.

You will enjoy each and every book by Cussler. His books are many and have been read worldwide. He has also written several non-fiction books and a few for children. His passion for preserving history combined with his knack for adventure keep the reader engrossed and wanting more. Cussler is rated #16 on the Top Richest Author List.

Here are the Top 10 Books by Cussler

The Chase

Raise The Titanic

Plague Ship

Atlantis Found

Sahara

Inca Gold

The Race

The Spy

Treasure of Khan

The Sea Hunters

His non-fiction books include:

Built To Thrill

Built for Adventure

The Sea Hunters II

Dirk Pitt Revealed

The Sea Hunters

The Solomon Curse, Clive Cussler. This is another husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team. Sam and Remi Fargo, together with travel the world together on another adventure. They embark on the Solomons to Australia and Japan. With help from Selma, their highly paid researcher to uncover the truth. Sam and Remi are entrepreneurs, adventurers and, industrious.