Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Summary and Reviews of Sea Hunters II by Clive Cussler

Sea Hunters II by Clive Cussler, Craig Dirogohas

Sea Hunters II

More True Adventures With Famous Shipwrecks

by Clive Cussler, Craig Dirogohas
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Dec 1, 2002, 464 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2004, 448 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Book Summary

Cussler and NUMA (The National Underwater & Marine Agency) demonstrate again that truth can be stranger than fiction. True adventures told in this volume include the 2000 raising of the Confederate submarine Hunley, The Mary Celeste, the Carpathia, and the L'Oiseau Blanc, the airplane that almost beat The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic before disappearing.

For twenty-three years, Clive Cussler's NUMA®—the National Underwater & Marine Agency—has scoured the rivers and seas in search of lost ships of historic significance. His teams have been inundated by tidal waves, and beset by the vagaries of man and nature, but the results—and the stories behind them—have often been dramatic: The 2000 raising of the Confederate submarine Hunley made national headlines.

Here, then, are more true tales of sea—and land—going adventures, as Cussler and his crews set out to track down history. The famous ghost ship Mary Celeste, found floating off the Azores in 1872 with no one on board; the Carpathia, the ship that rescued the Titanic survivors and was itself lost to U-boats six years later; L'Oiseau Blanc, the airplane that almost beat The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic before disappearing in the Maine woods—all these, plus steamboats, ironclads, a seventeenth-century flagship, a certain famous PT boat, and even a dirigible, prove tantalizing targets as Cussler demonstrates again that truth can be "at least as fun, and sometimes stranger, than fiction" (Men's Journal).

PART ONE

L'Aimable
The Father of Waters
1684-1685

"THE FOOL!" RENE-ROBERT CAVELIER DE LA SALLE SHOUTED as he stood helpless on the desolate shore and watched his flagship, L'Aimable, veer out of the buoyed channel toward what he knew was certain destruction.

Earlier, over the protests of L'Aimable's captain, Rene Aigron, La Salle had ordered the 300-ton French ship loaded with stores for a new colony to sail across the bar of Cavallo Pass into Matagorda Bay--a body of water that would become part of the state of Texas 157 years later.

Aigron stared menacingly, demanded La Salle draw up a document absolving him of any responsibility, and insisted the explorer sign it. La Salle, still recovering from an illness, was too weary to argue the point and reluctantly agreed to the terms. Fearing the worst, Aigron then transferred his personal possessions to a smaller ship, Joly, which had already crossed the bar and was safely anchored inside.

Now, with the sails unfurled and ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Men's Journal
With Cussler, the truth is at least as fun as, and sometimes stranger than, fiction.

Kirkus Reviews
A lively narrative slickly done: nothing wrong with that, but intelligent readers who like their history straight up may find it simply annoying.

Library Journal
This is nonfiction, but it's still pretty thrilling: Cussler recounts the efforts of his organization, NUMAR the National Underwater and Marine Agency to dredge up lost ships with historical value.

Publishers Weekly
Cussler's artful writing style and varied experiences while searching for historical treasures make this a first-rate adventure book sure to please any student of history and the odd Pitt fan who takes the plunge.

Reader Reviews

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Sea Hunters II, try these:

  • The Devil's Teeth jacket

    The Devil's Teeth

    by Susan Casey

    Published 2006

    About this book

    More by this author

    A journalist's obsession brings her to a remote island off the California coast, home to the world's most mysterious and fearsome predators -- and the strange band of surfer-scientists who follow them.

  • Shadow Divers jacket

    Shadow Divers

    by Robert Kurson

    Published 2005

    About this book

    More by this author

    In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery – and make history themselves.

We have 5 read-alikes for Sea Hunters II, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Clive Cussler
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Books with similar themes


Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

They say that in the end truth will triumph, but it's a lie.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..