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Clive Cussler, the author of dozens of action novels and sponsor of countless shipwreck-hunting expeditions, passed away at his home in Arizona on Monday. <\/p>\n
Cussler, 88, came to fame with the publication of the thriller "Raise the Titanic!" in 1976. It was the third book in his now-famous Dirk Pitt series, but the first to gain widespread public attention, and it soared onto the bestseller lists. The book become a movie in 1980, and Dirk Pitt went on to a long, adventurous career, appearing in 22 more novels between 1978 and 2018.<\/p>\n
Overall, Cussler published 84 volumes of fiction, nonfiction and children's fiction over the course of his life, selling about 100 million copies. The numbers will keep going up after his passing: His 85th book, "Journey of the Pharaohs," is due for release next month, and his publisher told the New York Times that there are still more manuscripts in the pipeline. <\/p>\n
Cussler was also an avid diver, and in 1979, he used the proceeds from his book sales to finance a subsea-search nonprofit, the National Underwater and Marine Agency – a real outfit named after a fictional agency in his Dirk Pitt series. NUMA has located 60 wreck sites to date, and Cussler participated in many of its voyages and dives – as documented in a nonfiction book, "The Sea Hunters." <\/p>\n
Among its other famous finds, NUMA conducted or contributed to the discovery of the Confederate ironclad Manassas<\/em>; the steamer Lexington<\/em>; the Cunard Line steamship Carpathia <\/em>(the ship that rescued Titanic's<\/em> <\/em>survivors); and the Confederate sub H.L. Hunley,<\/em> the first combat submarine to sink a warship. <\/p>\n