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Rating: 
Summary: More Solid Nonfiction from Cussler
Review: "The Sea Hunters II" follows the same pattern as "The Sea Hunters". Cussler presents a vignette that describes or speculates on the final moments of a ship or other artifact, and then describes the efforts of NUMA to locate the item in question. This combination of forgotten history and adventure is well written, and is easily as entertaining as Cussler's excellent fiction. Cussler approaches his subject matter with just the right touch of reverence for those souls lost in the wrecks he describes, along with a great sense of humor regarding his recovery attempts that did not go as planned. I hope a "Sea Hunters III" will be in the works at some time!
Rating:
Summary: A wealthy man's interesting hobby
Review: Clive Cussler in between authoring a plethora of novels, book tours and signings finds the time explore shipwrecks and other items of historical significance. Cussler and his NUMA (National Underwater Marine Agency) scour the world to try to unearth clues to unravel some of the mysteries of history. In each chapter he concocts a vignette explaining the history surrounding what he is searching for. He then describes the efforts of his team to uncover the ship or whatever they're going after. They aren't always successful.As opposed to his first Sea Hunters novel his team has searched for many things other than sunken ships. He spent time in Maine searching for L'Oiseau Blanc, thought to be the first plane to fly non stop across the Atlantic prior to Lindbergh. The NUMA team also tried to uncover the remains of the U.S.S. Akron, the first enormously sized Goodyear blimp which crashed of of the Jersey shore in the 30's. Of particular interest was learning the fate of the R.M.S. Carpathia, which was responsible for rescuing the survivors of the Titanic, and was subsequently torpedoed by a German U boat 6 years later. A very interesting chapter was devoted to the fate of the Mary Celeste, an extremely famous "ghost" ship of the 1870's. The most revealing discovery for me, surrounded the story of the steamship General Slocum which was involved in the greatest tragedy concerning loss of life in New York history. In excess of 1000 people died as the ship was ravaged by fire on a weekend excursion in New York Harbor. The event actually altered the dynamics of the German American community which inhabited lower Manhattan and suffered huge losses in the fire. They moved away to divorce themselves from the devastation on the General Slocum.
Rating:
Summary: A wealthy man's interesting hobby
Review: Clive Cussler in between authoring a plethora of novels, book tours and signings finds the time explore shipwrecks and other items of historical significance. Cussler and his NUMA (National Underwater Marine Agency) scour the world to try to unearth clues to unravel some of the mysteries of history. In each chapter he concocts a vignette explaining the history surrounding what he is searching for. He then describes the efforts of his team to uncover the ship or whatever they're going after. They aren't always successful. As opposed to his first Sea Hunters novel his team has searched for many things other than sunken ships. He spent time in Maine searching for L'Oiseau Blanc, thought to be the first plane to fly non stop across the Atlantic prior to Lindbergh. The NUMA team also tried to uncover the remains of the U.S.S. Akron, the first enormously sized Goodyear blimp which crashed of of the Jersey shore in the 30's. Of particular interest was learning the fate of the R.M.S. Carpathia, which was responsible for rescuing the survivors of the Titanic, and was subsequently torpedoed by a German U boat 6 years later. A very interesting chapter was devoted to the fate of the Mary Celeste, an extremely famous "ghost" ship of the 1870's. The most revealing discovery for me, surrounded the story of the steamship General Slocum which was involved in the greatest tragedy concerning loss of life in New York history. In excess of 1000 people died as the ship was ravaged by fire on a weekend excursion in New York Harbor. The event actually altered the dynamics of the German American community which inhabited lower Manhattan and suffered huge losses in the fire. They moved away to divorce themselves from the devastation on the General Slocum.
Rating: 
Summary: The Real World of the NUMA
Review: For those who have read the novels of Clive Cussler the NUMA is a part of every fictional story the writer has written, and I have read them all. What I did not know is that The NUMA is very real, and over decades has discovered, and in some instances recovered lost wrecks including those that sailed beneath the sea, upon it, or even sailed in the air above it. The National Underwater Marine Agency is not a treasure hunting organization; rather they seek to solve mysteries that are in some cases many centuries old. They take nothing from the wrecks they locate, and when they do find historical vessels and their associated debris fields, it is States and Colleges and Universities that are given the locations to raise, preserve and restore pieces of History from a variety of Nations. The NUMA is comprised almost exclusively of volunteers and outside funding again is almost exclusively from the proceeds from the sales of Mr. Cussler's novels, and his non-fiction work, "The Sea Hunters I", and now "The Sea Hunters II". I, for a reason I cannot justify, passed on reading the first of these two books, and now that I have read the second I will be getting number one forthwith. The history this book contained that was either new, or clarified what I thought I knew was worth every penny the book costs, and the hours spent enjoying the tales. Some of the material for his novels originates on these trips that have taken him and his son and friends around the globe. Some of the quaint restaurants and hotels you may have read about in many instances are real. His son is named Dirk just like the primary character in his books, and Mr. Cussler is 6 foot 3 inches tall, also just like Dirk, at least until he fell off the back of a truck, compressed two spinal discs, and when combined with the settling of almost 70 years, he now is 6 foot one inch. You will read about the famous ship that saved so many from the sinking Titanic, and why another ship, more likely known to you as infamous, did so little. He also tells of steamboats that burned and took the lives of over 1,000 people, not on the Mississippi, but on The East River in New York City. Then there are the men who likely crashed in the Maine woods after crossing the Atlantic days before Lindbergh was to make his first solo flight. Also fascinating is how much the paths of rivers and the coastlines of continents can change in relatively short periods of time. One hundred and fifty years is nothing relative to the world's life, but I never knew the banks of the Mississippi River have moved over 200 feet in some spots. Mr. Cussler also shares the technology that allows the rediscovery of these vessels, and shares some of the most amazing moments that take place after decades of searching. One of the best candidates for the latter was the discovery and the raising of one of the first submarines to ever sail, The C.S.S. Hunley. This is a book of non-fiction from a man who is one of the best-selling authors of fiction alive today. If you have never read either type of his work, I recommend both. I also would wager that if you start with the true stories, you will be drawn to his fiction which is the definition of reading for pure fun.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a sunken ship!
Review: I absolutely love Clive Cusslers books but I don't love this book. In fact, I don't even like it. Usually, his books grip me from beginning to end. This one didn't. I couldn't even finish it. I tried to read it 3 times but had to put it down each time. It was completely unsatisfying...I was expecting a great Clive read but ended up with THIS???!!!
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: I agree with the other reviewers, the first Sea Hunters was much better, even though there were problems with that book. This one is jarring in places - you can clearly see where Clive Cussler left off and Craig Dirgo picked up. Dirgo is not a good writer. I found some inaccuracies, which I know Cussler didn't make, because his research is meticulous. It's too bad, this could have been a better book with the right writer. The only reason I am keeping this book is because I'm in the last chapter (which I helped write, which means it was written well). It's fun to pull the book out and show people the photo and part I wrote. Then it goes right back on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed the first, but this one....
Review: I really enjoyed the first volume, but as I read this one something began to bother me. I couldn't put my finger on it until about page 108 when Cussler, or should I say Dirgo, details a friend's sense of humour. The friend refuses to stow his bag on the plane, because it really isn't against FAA regulations not to. The flight attendant has to deal with this fellow, who Cussler tells us is an FAA investigator, and a retired Col. in the Air Force, as he refuses to do as she asks. She has to get the pilot to come and speak to this friend, who when faced with a "suitable" authority figure, has already stowed the bag. Ho-ho! What a great joke. Then it hit me, the whole book is filled with "We're so much smarter than everyone" episodes from the flight attendant to a 7/11 clerk. If you agree that Cussler and his friends are the pinnacles of human evolution, then this is the book for you. I would recommend reading the historical chapters and skipping the rest.
Rating: 
Summary: Lightweight mix of fact and fiction
Review: I'm not a fan of fiction, so the format of "The Sea Hunters", which combines a novel woven within historic fact (or is it historic fact woven within a novel?) just didn't work for me. Cussler's NUMA team has actively searched for historic shipwrecks over the years, and scored big time with the C.S.S. Hunley. In this book, he relates the adventures he has had looking for other important wrecks. While he does provide some interesting background to the ships, the historical value of his accounts is too lightweight to be of any real significance. The real "meat" of his book is his quest for the wrecks themselves. However, Cussler focuses more on the search than on what he and his crew found, and most of his "discoveries" are limited to magnetometer sweeps. Cussler then includes fictional accounts of the ship to flesh out his tales. While I was not expecting extensive archaeological investigations of the wrecks, I did want Cussler to provide some detail. For example, his team found the exposed wreck of the U.S.S. Patapsco, but Cussler mentions only that they found some guns and artifacts. He makes no mention of the ship's condition, no photos, and no wreck diagrams. This book remided me of a fishing trip - They went out, looked around, and had fun. Whether they actually caught something was of secondary importance. The book is: 30% fiction, 40% NUMA guys looking around, 25% historical background, and 5% information about what they found. If you like lightweight history, armchair adventure stories, or fiction, you might enjoy this book. For anyone looking for a historical or archaeological resource, go elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Not that great
Review: When writing a work of fiction interwoven with historical fact, the author(s) really should provide an appendix clearly separating the two. I mention only two examples from this book. The White Bird was a plane that has never been found, yet Cussler writes authoritatively on exactly how the two men died, from one man getting the top of his head cut off to the other having his back broken and sinking beneath the waves. Second is the Marie Celeste, where he has the crew get into a boat to escape what they believe to be a sinking ship, how they become separated from the ship, and a chronology of how each one of the crew dies. Now, reading his attempts to discover the wrecks is interesting, but I wish he'd not tried the fiction parts of it which really do invalidate this book as a serious source.
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