Raise the Titanic!
Read Raise the Titanic! Online
Authors: Clive Cussler
“CUSSLER MAKES THE MOST OF HIS
TITANIC
FANTASYâ¦BREATHTAKING.”
âThe New York Times
In the depths of the sea lies the corpse of the
world's most famous ship. And within that ship lies
a substance that could save a nationâ¦
TITANIC
!
The President's secret task force has developed an unprecedented defensive weapon that relies on an extremely rare radioactive elementâso rare, in fact, that not enough exists to power the creation. But Dirk Pitt has followed a twisted trail to a secret cache of the substance. So, racing against brutal storms, Soviet spies, and a ticking clock, Pitt begins his most thrilling missionâto raise the shipwreck of the century from its watery graveâ¦
“Ingeniously craftedâ¦the details of the ship's raising, worked out lovingly by Mr. Cussler, are fascinatingâ¦a ripping good story.”
âMinneapolis Star Tribune
“A great adventureâ¦spins from one dizzying climax to another [and] holds its innermost secrets until the very endâ¦simply super.”
âPublishers Weekly
“A particularly startling and polished thriller.”
âSan Francisco Chronicle
CLIVE CUSSLER isâ¦
“Just about the best storyteller in the business.”
âNew York Post
DIRK PITT
®
isâ¦
that rarest of individuals without whom the world could not survive. He is a man of swift, decisive action who lives by his honorâforever standing watch on the front lines in the enduring war between good and evil. As the son of a U.S. senator, graduate of the Air Force Academy, and special projects director for the U.S. National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), his courage and cool under fire are matched only by his forceful nature and ferocious determination to do whatever is necessary. Pitt reports directly to Admiral James Sandecker, the cunning commander of NUMA, and is backed up by the tough, streetwise Al Giordinoâa childhood friend and partner in undersea adventure for more than twenty years.
CLIVE CUSSLER AND THE
DIRK PITT
®
SERIES
“Nobody does it better than Clive Cussler. NOBODY!”
âStephen Coonts
“WICKEDLY ENGROSSING.”
âPublishers Weekly
“BY FAR THE BEST.”
âTulsa World
“ENOUGH INTRIGUE TO SATISFY EVEN THE MOST DEMANDING THRILL-SEEKERSâ¦An entertaining and exciting saga, full of techno details and narrow escapes.”
âThe Chattanooga Times
“PURE ENTERTAINMENTâ¦AS RELIABLE AS PITT'S TRUSTY COLT .45.”
âPeople
“CLIVE CUSSLER HAS NO EQUAL.”
âPublishers Weekly
“PURE CUSSLER, PURE FUN. The action just keeps accelerating.”
âThe San Francisco Examiner
“FULL OF ACTION, INTRIGUE, AND BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.”
âSan Antonio Express-News
DIRK PITT
®
ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
Trojan Odyssey
Valhalla Rising
Atlantis Found
Flood Tide
Shock Wave
Inca Gold
Sahara
Dragon
Treasure
Cyclops
Deep Six
Pacific Vortex
Night Probe
Vixen 03
Raise the
Titanic
!
Iceberg
The Mediterranean Caper
DIRK PITT
®
ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK CUSSLER
Treasure of Khan
Black Wind
KURT AUSTIN ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH PAUL KEMPRECOS
The Navigator
Polar Shift
Lost City
White Death
Fire Ice
Serpent
Blue Gold
OREGON
FILES ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
WITH JACK DU BRUL
Skeleton Coast
Dark Watch
AND CRAIG DIRGO
Sacred Stone
Golden Buddha
NONFICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO
The Sea Hunters
The Sea Hunters II
Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed
CHILDREN'S BOOKS BY CLIVE CUSSLER
The Adventures of Vin Fiz
CLIVE CUSSLER
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhiâ110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
I am particularly indebted to G. J. Marcus, whose book
The Maiden Voyage
has been invaluable to me.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
RAISE THE
TITANIC
!
A Berkley Book/published by arrangement with the author
Copyright © 1976 by Clive Cussler.
Dirk Pitt
®
is a registered trademark of Clive Cussler.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ISBN: 978-1-1012-0453-5
BERKLEY
®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY
®
is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
With gratitude to my wife, Barbara,
Errol Beauchamp, Janet and Randy Richter,
and Dick Clark
When Dirk Pitt
salvaged the
Titanic
from the pages of a typewriter set in a damp corner of an unfinished basement, the legendary ocean liner was still ten years away from actual discovery. The year was 1975 and
Raise the
Titanic! became the fourth book in Pitt's underwater adventures. Then, no one was inspired to spend the immense effort in time and money for a search operation. But after the book was published and the movie produced, a renewed tidal wave of interest swept America and Europe. At least five expeditions were launched to look for the wreck.
My original inspiration was based on fantasy and a desire to see the world's most famous ship brought up from the seabed and towed into New York Harbor, completing her maiden voyage begun three quarters of a century before. Fortunately, it was a fantasy shared by millions of her devoted fans.
Now, 73 years after she slipped into the silence of the black abyss, cameras have finally revealed her open grave.
Fiction has become fact.
Pitt's description of her in the story pretty well matches what the robot cameras recorded shortly after she was found through the miracle of sidescan sonar. Aside from her structural damage, sustained during her 13,000-foot plunge to the bottom, she suffers little from sea growth and corrosion. Even the wine bottles and silver service that spilled out on the silt appear pristine.
Will the
Titanic
ever be raised?
It is unlikely. A total salvage operation would nearly equal the cost of the Apollo man-on-the-moon project. Soon, however, we can expect to see manned submersibles circling her hulk in search of her treasure in artifacts, while teams of American and British attorneys roll up their sleeves for long courtroom battles over her possession.
Pitt has always looked to the future and found it full of excitement and adventure. In the nineteen seventies he was a man of the eighties. Now he is a man of the nineties. Like a scout out for a wagon train, Pitt looks over the next hill and tells us what's there. He sees what we'd all like to see in our imaginations.
That's why no one could have been more delighted than I when it was announced that the
Titanic
had been found.
I knew that Pitt had seen her first.