Bestselling author who found joy in maritime adventures
Clive Cussler, 88, the author and maritime adventurer who captivated millions with his bestselling tales of suspense and who, between books, led scores of expeditions to find historic shipwrecks and lost treasures in the ocean depths, died Monday at his home in suburban Phoenix, Arizona.
His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for his publisher, Penguin Random House. No specific cause was given.
Mayan jungles, undersea kingdoms, ghost ships, evil forces out to destroy the world, beautiful women, heroes modeled on himself — Cussler’s vivid literary fantasies and his largerthan-life exploits swirled together for four decades, spinning off some 70 books and locating almost as many shipwrecks.
His work — mostly action thrillers of the James Bond-Indiana Jones kind, plus nonfiction accounts of his marine quests and a few children’s books — made him a global celebrity.
His book sales have been staggering — more than 100 million copies, with vast numbers sold in paperback at airports. Translated into 40 or so languages, his books reached The New York Times’ bestseller lists more than 20 times, as he amassed a fortune estimated at $80 million.
Often compared to the thrillers churned out by Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and Ian Fleming, the Cussler novels featured formulaic plots, one- or twoword titles and frequently a recurring hero, Dirk Pitt, an undersea explorer who cheats death and saves the world as he foils the diabolical plots of megalomaniac villains, while satisfying his taste for exotic cars and lusty women.
Cussler was hardly a stylist. Critics called his characters wooden, his dialogue leaden and his prose cliched (“the cold touch of fear,” “a narrow brush with death”), while praising his descriptions of marine hardware, underwater struggles and salvage operations.
But readers were swept along on the page-turning tides, and after his commercial breakthrough, “Raise the Titanic!” (1976), his books were frequently on the bestseller lists for months.
Cussler also connected with readers by turning his love for scuba diving into an oceanic lifestyle that paralleled and validated his superhero.
He first created the National Underwater and Marine Agency as a fictional government organization that employed his hero in the Dirk Pitt books. Then, in 1979, he founded an actual National Underwater and Marine Agency as a private nonprofit group committed to “preserving maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.” It underwrote his maritime ventures.
His first nonfiction book, “The Sea Hunters” (1996, with Craig Dirgo), was an account of his NUMA exploits, some of which were portrayed in television documentaries featuring Cussler as narrator. Valuable artifacts raised by his expeditions were given to museums or governments.
Cussler, who named his franchise hero after his son Dirk, acknowledged that Dirk Pitt’s character was his own alter ego. His later novels, many co-written by his son or others, often included himself as a character who saves the day. His son, a daughter and friends were also used as characters in his books.
“I’ve been doing Dirk Pitt for 30 years,” Cussler told the Times in 2000. “Maybe I can find another writer down the line to take him over. It’s not the money; it’s the fans.
“I’d like to retire,” he continued. “I’m toying with the idea of Pitt having a son who shows up. He’s getting a little long in the tooth. When we started out, we were both 36 years old. Now he’s a little over 40, and I’m pushing 70.”
But 20 years later, he was still churning out books, sometimes two a year. His “Journey of the Pharaohs: A Novel From the NUMA Files,” written with Graham Brown, is scheduled to be published in March.