The Republic of Texas Navy Ship Zavala I A Sweet-Handling Ship1836-1842 63

II Ship in a Parking Lot- 1986 70

PART 3

U.S.S. Cumberland and C.S.S. Florida

1 Her Flag Still Flying- 1862 79

II She-Devil of the Confederacy-1864 91

III Where Did They Go?- 1980 106

IV Back with a Vengeance- 1982 112

PART 4

PART 10 C.S.S. Arkansas They Can't Be Found if You Don't Look I The Gauntlet-1862 121 Postscript 327

II Go Down to the Levee-1981144

Current List of National Underwater & Marine Agency PART 5

Shipwreck Surveys and Discoveries 335

U.S.S. Carondelet Foreign Ships Discovered and Surveyed 343

Additional Sites Surveyed 347

1 The River War- 1 62 153

II Some Days You Can't Win-1982 168 Index 349

PART 6

The Confederate Submarine Hunley I The Little Sub That Could ...

and Did-1864 178

H The Toughest Find of All- 1980 197

III Once More with Feeling- 1981 206

IV If at First You Don't Succeed- 1994 212

PART 7

The Lost Locomotive of Kiowa Creek I Journey to Nowhere-1878 223

II One That Got Away-1989 236

PART 8

H.M.S. Pathfinder, U-21, and U-20 I Death from the Depths- 1914

II Down in Eighteen Minutes-1915 259

III I'd Rather Be in Hawaii-1984 272

PART 9

The Troop Transport Leopoldville I Silent Night, Deadly Night1944

II Curses, Foiled Again- 1984 309 NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees I Clive Cussler, Chairman Colonel Walter Schob Admiral William Thompson Michael Hogan Eric Schonstedt Commander Donald Walsh Kenhelm Stott, Jr.* Douglas Wheeler Craig Dirgo Robert Esbenson

Deceased

Wayne Gronquist, President Dana Larson William Shea Dr. Harold Edgerton Clyde Smith Peter Throckmorton Tony Bell* Dirk Cussler Barbara Knight

Introduction

It's said that Jules Verne wrote Around the World in Eighty Days without ever leaving Paris. He seldom stepped out of the room where he created the most imaginative novels the world has enjoyed. Most fiction authors, when I ask them what interests they have besides writing, look at me like my head is lopsided. They can't believe there are other pursuits in life beyond creating plots and characters, promoting their books, arguing with editors, or demanding better deals from their literary agents.

Their lives are entwined around what comes out of their word processors.

A reporter who interviewed me several years ago wrote that I "follow the beat of a drummer playing with a marching band in a field on the other side of town." I suppose that's true. Feeding my readers adventure tales based on a devil-may-care character by the name 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. I also collect and restore classic and vintage automobiles. If it's old, I'm into it.

There is a piece of me in Dirk Pitt and a slice of him in me.