The day that Dirk Pitt met Diver Magazine

When I had my copy of the just released book Sea Hunters autographed by its famous author, the man signed two names: Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt. After 23 years of chronicling the adventures of superspy, diving guy, Dirk Pitt, apparently the reality between character and writer has begun to blur somewhat.

Despite Dirk's name in my review copy of this 365 page hardcover book, there is precious little mention made in it of the scuba hero who made, albeit in novel form, the first dive on the wreck of the Titanic (Raise the Titanic). Clive Cussler, America's grandmaster of adventure, was in Toronto to talk about his own real life underwater adventures and his first non-fiction, quasi-autobiographical work.

The Sea Hunters is a dramatic account of the shipwrecks that Cussler and a gang of his diving buddies have discovered over the past twenty years. Using money that was earned from the fantastic sales of his books (70 million copies and still counting), the author and a dozen or so of his close friends explore under the banner of their National Underwater & Marine Agency (NUMA), a non-profit association dedicated to the discovery and preservation of historic shipwrecks. This book, which will have instant appeal to any diver who has thought about diving on a wreck, details 12 of the 60 downed ships, trains and submarines that have been located by NUMA.
"Eccentric that I am," Cussler likes to say, "I've never searched for treasure or taken artifacts NUMA has raised from a wreck site. All recovered objects are used strictly for identification purposes before being preserved and donated to museums. Nothing is kept. Visitors and guests are stunned to find no maritime artifacts in my home."
The Sea Hunters, written in conjunction with Craig Dirgo, an American novelist and special projects director on numerous NUMA expeditions, is a witty, first hand account of how a group of guys have had an amazing ability to find historically important shipwrecks all over the world. It is all in the book-the finding of the CSS Hunley, the first submarine in history to sink a warship (It took 15 years to find the Civil War wreck even though it was in very shallow water off Charleston, South Carolina), the U-20 (German U-Boat that sank the Lusitania), the U-21 (In 1914 it became the first German U-boat to sink an enemy ship-HMS Pathfinder) and the steamship Lexington-150 men, women and children were lost near New York City (poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had a ticket but missed the boat because of a fight with his editor; missed deadlines save lives!). Cussler also recounts some of his drier finds. His search for the Zavala, the finest ship in the navy of the Republic of Texas, started in a Gulf of Mexico swamp, but ended high and dry when her remains were found by the NUMA expedition, under a parking lot!

Along the way Cussler talks a lot about himself, his friends and mentors and the camaraderie that is a key part of every NUMA project. Oh the tales he tells. There is the girl in the skimpy bikini who came aboard their search boat one hot summer's day and didn't realize that she was sunbathing in front of the captain's windshield ("hairiest armpits I've ever seen," recalled Mr. Cussler. " but, we weren't about to tell her to move, I had the captain steer by compass!"). And, there was the time that the late Peter Throckmorton was being difficult in the kitchen while cooking a gourmet meal for the team-the chef's assistants (other members of the NUMA expedition) rebelled and dropped the famous marine archaeologist's socks into the shrimp sauce.

"I have always had a love of diving, in fact I wrote the Mediterranean Caper on the counter of the Aquatic Dive Centre (near Los Angeles, California) using a portable typewriter," recalled Clive Cussler. " I remember when I first got the job, Don Spencer, Ron Merker and Omar Wood, legendary divers and owners of the Aquatic Center dive stores, wondered which part of the moon I'd dropped from when I applied for a job that paid $400 a month after making $2,000 a month as a creative director for a national advertising agency!"

Cussler first dove in 1951 while in the Navy. He taught himself the sport in Hawaii while on leave. It wasn't until the late 60s while working in a beach-side dive shack, running Catalina Island charters and sometimes teaching the sport, that he actually got around to getting certified. "I am quite proud of my first certification, I received my Los Angeles County (C-card). It was better than the other cards at the time, it was damned hard to get. Of course now I have both NAUI and PADI cards-honourary and earned."

The novels that he started writing while perched near a compressor in a Pacific Ocean beach side dive shop, usually had a diving element in them.

Dirk Pitt has always been willing to dive deep in books like Deep Six, Pacific Vortex and Treasure. It is the success of those novels that have fueled the real life adventures of NUMA. As Cussler likes to say "Dirk Pitt is only one chapter of my existence. I'm addicted to the challenge of the search, whether it's for lost shipwrecks, airplanes, steam locomotives or people."

The expeditions that Cussler has helped fund have not come cheaply. Both in dollars and controversy. The search for the Hunley cost him $130,000 US and no end of criticism. "I don't know what it is about wrecks, but, they do invite problems," the writer told DIVER Magazine. "After we realized that we had found the Hunley a few of the fellows took a bottle of champagne to the graveyard and toasted (the lost crew of the submarine). Later it was said that we pissed on the grave!

"I was accused of desecrating the grave of Confederate war heroes, raping the wreck, ransoming the sovereign state of South Carolina, and scheming to carry off the Hunley and set it in my front yard in Colorado. The Sons of the Confederate Veterans wanted to burn my books. I was called a glory-hunting charlatan, a con man, a scavenger and a Benedict Arnold for betraying the noble profession of marine archaeology, Rodney Dangerfield gets more respect than me."

The Hunley still lies covered in sand in shallow South Carolina waters. The US Navy plans to retrieve and restore the submarine. Cooler heads have prevailed about Cussler and NUMA. Marine heritage groups now recognize that the group spent 105 days running 1,196 miles of survey lines without any cost to anyone, and the group has sought no financial or archeological gain out of their altruistic search.

Wreck readers will have to get used to Cussler's style, despite the great index and the wonderful synopsis of the wrecks at the end of the book, this is a work that has been written by a story teller-it is built like a novel. When writing about the history and the loss of each ship mentioned in Sea Hunter, Cussler writes dialogue for key figures in the drama based on his research of the mishaps.

"In most cases I don't know what was said back then, the quotes are my best guess (as to what was said). It makes for a better read." The author explained that when the book deals with present day events the quotes are dead-on accurate. Wrapped around the stories of the lost war machines and their eventual recovery, you will get to know a lot more about Dirk Pitt's creator. At 63 years of age, he is willing to talk about his weaknesses (he cried when no one at the National Geographic Magazine would come to their front lobby and talk to him about his successful expedition to find John Paul Jones' lost ship) and his detractors. Little tidbits and personal insights are peppered into each chapter in the book.

The tall, fit writer doesn't dive too much any more-"Nowadays I don't get in the water until I'm sure they have found the wreck!"

Does that mean that Sea Hunters is the closing chapter to the work of NUMA?

Not on your life. Cussler is working on a new novel (another Dirk Pitt) and when that is finished he figures that he and his pals will be out looking for wrecks again!p

Ontario Underwater Council experiences major budget hit
The dust still hasn't settled around the Ontario Underwater Council office. Earlier this month the organization that represents the sport in Ontario learned that it and a number of other sports has lost its government funding.

In anticipation of that provincial announcement and because of a dwindling membership/funding base, the OUC has lost it's executive director. Long time employee Brian Meisner is no longer at the helm of North America's largest and most active underwater council.

"We are not going to fill his position in the short run. In the long term, well, we will probably have to rely on our board of directors for volunteer help," said OUC employee Nancy Parton. "However, I want to assure everyone that most, if not all of our programs are still going forward as they were before. We are already working on Underwater Canada 97, we are still testing fill station compressors, organizing insurance for dive clubs and monitoring diver safety issues."

The OUC has traditionally been a very active association. For the record some of the good things they do include: diver insurance, air quality tests for compressors, the annual dive show, attendance at all diver fatality inquests (and a members' report on the trial), publication of a quarterly dive magazine, publication of a dive industry booklet, national data base for accident reports (and linkage with US-based DAN), the annual treasure hunt, Snorkel Canada training programme, river/lake clean-ups and resource library of books, movies, videos and magazines.

The OUC has always had a strong base of clubs, industrial sponsors and government support. Over the past three years a gradual change in the sport has effected the OUC membership base. Clubs, once the backbone of the OUC are not as dominant any more and some of the clubs that are still training new divers have dropped out or refuse to be a part of the council (a strange phenomena that has been mirrored in other provinces).

In an attempt to attract non-affiliated divers the OUC cut its individual membership fee to under $10.00. Now that government has cut out all funding to the group, finding the money needed to run the association will be a difficult task-the fee structure is so low that OUC will have to recruit thousands of divers to make up the difference. With just two full time employees at the OUC offices in North York, the council has had to cut back the association's hours of operation.

OTHER OUC NEWS: The beleaguered OUC held a stripped down version of its annual general meeting last month at its North York office. Among its order of business was the presenting of annual awards. Jim Parton received the Distinguished Service Award. Parton has been the OUC's volunteer air test officer and tested air quality at dive shops and fire halls both in Ontario and Manitoba.

The Stouffville Underwater Club received the Distinguished Service Award for clubs. Garry Smith, a diver from the Chatham/Windsor area received the Tin Man Award for his work in organizing marathon fund raising dives in support of a child needing medical attention.

The Barrascuba Underwater Club is holding its 40th anniversary on December 6th 1996. The Trident Underwater Club will hold its 1997 Ice Floe Races on March 15th and 16th in Peterborough, Ontario. Underwater Canada will be held at the Regal Constellation Hotel in Toronto April 4-6, 1997. The OUC Treasure Hunt will be held June 21st and 22nd in Lake Ontario near Belleville.

In 1997 the Scuba Club Big Tub's Summer Bottom Scrub in the Tobermory, Ontario harbour will be open to all divers. The Ottawa General Hospital Hyperbaric Chamber will officially open September 26th, 1997.