Dirk Pitt's mother's name is Barbara. The former Barbara Knight - Flood Tide (12).
Clive Cussler's late wife was Barbara Knight.

Please join in and add other character names you have noticed and how they relate to Clive Cussler.

The easiest one is Al Giordino. (also Clive's airforce buddy in Hawaii)

Then there are the many incarnations of Leigh Hunt. (also Clive's friend in real life)

Here's another easy one ...

Clive Eric Cussler

Dirk Eric Pitt

th: Yes, Dirk Eric Pitt! :)

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LOWE: Where did the name Dirk Pitt come from?

CUSSLER: My son's name. He was six months old when I started writing. His name is Dirk, and I used it for fun, really. I was looking through an encyclopedia about the British prime ministers during the Revolutionary war, Pitt the younger and Pitt the elder. So I thought, well, that works, 'cause I wanted a one syllable name.

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Eric is also Clive Cussler's father's name. ;)

Very Interesting Post = VIP ;)

Robert "Bob" Ebenson:

* the mechanic working on Pitt's Cord in Treasure (Chapter 26, 31).

*Clive Cussler's partner in his classic car business.

Of course, while were on the topic how can we forget that of Leigh Hunt(er), Clives longtime buddy and the recurring name in several books.

Clive wrote The Mediterranean Caper in a Dive shop in Newport Beach. The owners names were ;

Omar Wood, Don Spencer and Ron Merker

Characters from that same book include ;

Omar Woodson (expedition photographer onboard the First Attempt who later dives with Pitt into the von Till underwater cave)

Lee Spencer (marine biologist onboard the First Attempt who also dives with Pitt)

Characters from Raise the Titanic were ;

Sam Merker (NUMA systems expert on the Sappho 1 expedition)

Rick Spencer (NUMA eqipment engineer on the Sappho 1 expedition)

Omar Woodson (NUMA photographer on the Sappho 1 expedition)

Cheers ... t:

Whoa Dirk Pitt ... you are on a roll. Great info! th:

Zavala:

*Joe Zavala - Kurt Austin's partner

* Zavala, a Texas navy shipwreck, was found by a NUMA team under a parking lot in Galveston - Inca Gold (38)

*Clive Cussler and his good friend, the late Bob Esbenson, actually did find the Zavala under a parking lot in Galveston.

Speaking of Bob Esbenson, in Night Probe the character Robert Esbenson attended the Richmond auction and brought a Merc.


******


Anyone ever given much thought to the possibility that Teri von Till (Mediterranean Caper) was named after Clive's eldest daughter, Teri Cussler ?

Similar description (shoulder length black hair)

The only worry is that in the book, Dirk Pitt slaps Teri's face hard then makes love to her on the beach straight after they just met! Hardly befitting a character you'd name after your daughter ... so maybe not.

Thoughts anyone ?

Good point Dirk Pitt. Perhaps Clive Cussler just used her name. By the way, Teri is an undercover agent posing as Von Till's niece. Her real name is Amy in The Mediterrenean Caper.

Amy is also the name of Clive Cussler's mother.

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Cliver Cussler's other daughter is named Dana.

Dana Seagram is a chraracter in Raise the Titanic!

A character named Charlie Hunley makes the ID on the boiler# in Deep Six (14).

And we all know who discovered the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley! b:

Isn't Merker the name of a CIA or FBI agent as well?

I was reading about the Zavala expedition at numa.net and came across this line:

"Clive Cussler's involvement with the Zavala began innocently enough when he and his wife, Barbara, visited NUMA president Wayne Gronquist at his law offices in Austin, Texas."

There is a character named Hiram Gronquist in Treasure (2,8).

When Clive Cussler's favored the names Dirk or Kurt when his son was born. Hummm..... Kurt Austin?

Clive Cussler and his good friend, the late Bob Esbenson found the Zavala (see The Sea Hunters by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo).

Apparently Barbara Cussler wanted to call her son, Glenn. It seems we came close to knowing our hero as "Glenn Pitt" <_<

I think that is mentioned in CC and DP revealed. I remember reading RtT! and thinking that those names sounded familiar. Then after that, I reread tMC and figured it out.

Throckmorton:

Professor Throckmorton, a character in White Death (22, 32, 39)

Peter Throckmorton (deceased), a member of the NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees.

Douglas Wheeler:

Old fisherman, "the Bayou Kid" [Cussler] offers Pitt and Giordino the use of his shantyboat. It is docked at Wheeler's Landing. He explains there is a grocery store near by run by an old friend and neighbor, Doug Wheeler. Flood Tide (32)

Douglas Wheeler, a member of the NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees.

A letter Clive Cussler received from Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder of Colorado gave him the idea for Loren Smith's occupation while writing Vixen 03.

William Shea

William Shea, U.S. Coast Guard cutter in Valhalla Rising (48, 49, 51).

William Shea, a member of the NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees.

w:

I realize Craig Dirgo is actually a not character per se, but ... an Air Force pilot is reading The Einstein Papers by Craig Dirgo. Atlantis Found (39)

Craig Dirgo, whose father was in the Air Force, was a high school kid who liked to hang around Cussler's car collection, he became the Special Projects director on numerous NUMA expeditions since 1987.

Craig Dirgo , a member of the NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees.

Fiction:
By Craig Dirgo
The Einstein Papers (©1999) - need to put this one on my reading list.

By Clive Cussler and Craid Dirgo
Golden Buddha (©2003)
Sacred Amulet (©2004)

Non-Fiction:
By Cilve Cussler and Craig Dirgo
The Sea Hunters (©1996)
Dirk Pitt Revealed (©1998)
The Sea Hunters II (©2002)

b:

Ken Knight , a character in The Mediterranean Caper.

Commander Byron Knight of the Polar Explorer in Treasure.

Asa Knight , 2nd mate. Atlantis Found

Cussler was one of the copywriters responsible for the Ajax White Knight commercial slogan, "It's stronger than dirt."

;)

Darcy

Dr. Darcy Chapman, a character in Sahara (15)

During the 1960's Clive Cussler worked in the advertising business. "He started as a copywriter, but later showed the great worth of his imagination as a creative director for the D'Arcy advertising agency. His advertisements won multiple awards, including one at the Cannes Film Festival." (Ashgrove Biography)

w:

I'm wondering if the "Knight" connection here is from the famous Ajax slogan or his late wife's family name, Barbara Knight.

In Serpent, Kurt buys dueling pistols from a Mr. Slocum in London. Is that a reference to the General Slocum that NUMA searched for in 1994?

Hmmm. my mothers maiden name is Slocum. does that count for anything?

This doesn't exactly pertain to Clive Cussler, but I found it interesting. The skipper of the Oregon is Juan Cabrillo, and Juan Cabrillo is the name of a Spanish explorer who explored the west coast of North America in 1542-43.

That's right Dirk Pitt.

Barbara Knight, Clive Cussler's late wife, was a member of the NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees.

I'm betting that William Shea also known as Bill Shea was the person that Clive named his James Bond character, Brian Shaw after in Night Probe.

As Night Probe was being written, Bill Shea was part of the expedition looking for the Hunley.

Bill Shea was also mentioned in the dedications for Night Probe.

In Blue Gold, the name of the lawyer for I believe the Godstad Corporation is Francis Xavier Hanley. Could Hanley be a take off of Hunley?

I'm not sure about that one. But Hanley does ring a bell.

Max Hanley on the Oregon in Flood Tide and the Golden Buddah.

Oh yeah. Didn't think about that. I can't think of anything else Hanley could have come from...

Edit: I realised that this was mentioned already elsewhere.

I remember Max Hanley too.

In Shock Wave is mentioned C. Dirgo & Co who evaluated Kunghiti Island mine estimated that the mine could produce diamonds atleast 2 billion dollars in value. This is from page 185 in Finnish edition, most likely it is in different page in other editions.

I think this is allusion to Craig Dirgo, co-writer of NUMA files and Oregon Chronicles.

Today in US History we learned about British Prime Minister William Pitt and his affect on the French and Indian War. I'm assuming that Pitt is where Dr. Cussler got the name...

You are right about a Brisitsh prime minister named Pitt!

Novelist Jonathan Lowe asked Clive Cussler this questions during an interview on
July 1, 2003.

LOWE: Where did the name Dirk Pitt come from?

CUSSLER: My son's name. He was six months old when I started writing. His name is Dirk, and I used it for fun, really. I was looking through an encyclopedia about the British prime ministers during the Revolutionary war, Pitt the younger and Pitt the elder. So I thought, well, that works, 'cause I wanted a one syllable name.
w:

Leigh Hunt:

Clive Cussler's friend in real life.

Here is his character role list from my site:

Admiral Leigh Hunter receives a communication capsule from Dirk Pitt. There is a message inside written by the captain of the Starbuck, and the hunt for the lost submarine begins. Pacific Vortex! (1)

Leigh Hunt, a reporter for BBC, approaches Hala Kamil for an interview.
Treasure (1)

Leigh Hunt is the chief pilot on the Texas, a Confederate ironclad. The ship is damaged in combat on the James River, escapes to the Atlantic Ocean in a fog bank on April 2, 1865, and is never seen again. Sahara (The Gauntlet)

Based on an old story, Cussler explains that Leigh Hunt is an prospector who claims to have discovered a cave in the Castle Dome Mountains in 1942 that leads down into a cavern filled with gold and riches, with a river travelling through it to the Sea of Cortez. Inca Gold (35)

Colonel Leigh Hunt performs postmortem exams at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and concludes the deaths were caused by exposure to high-intensity sound.
Shock Wave (11)

Leigh Hunt is the captain of the Princes Dou Wan that sinks during a storm on December 10, 1948. Flood Tide (Requiem for a Princess)

Leigh Hunt is the captain of the Madras that is trapped and frozen in ice in the Antarctic in 1779. Atlantis Found (Ghost Ship)

Leigh Hunt is the captain of the Kearsarge that sinks after a collision with a mystery submarine in 1894. The captain and crew manage to abandon the sinking ship. Valhalla Rising (Monster from the Deep)

Sandecker relates the legend of the Wandering Buccaneer. Leigh Hunt is a freebooter and pirate ravaging the West Indies in the late seventh century. A company of British marines swarms his ship, the Scourge. Hunt is tied to a rope and lowered over the side to be eaten by sharks. Like the Flying Dutchman, Leigh Hunt and his crew of pirates still roam the waters. Trojan Odyssey (15)