General Observations, repeating themes and references

Another thread - the Bad Penny

Here are the references I noticed:

"I guess what they say about a bad penny is true." - Sandecker
"Better to turn up than not." - Pitt
Cyclops (42)

"The bad penny always turns up." - Giordino
Cyclops (76)

"The proverbial bad penny." - Pitt to Colonel Levant
Sahara (57)

"Bad pennies always turn up." - Pitt to Pochinsky
Valhalla Rising (22)

Clive Cussler said, "I would sit in algebra class... and stare out the window. While the teacher lectured, I was on the deck of a pirate ship or with Custer at the Little Bighorn... (Ashgrove Biography).

The Pirate ship theme is there:

*Dirk Pitt confronts the villains in the Pirates of the Caribbean rider at Disneyland in Iceberg (Chapter 21).

*Dirk Pitt makes a reference to Disneyland and makes the remark that they are about to enter the Pirates of the Caribbean in Trojan Odyssey (Chapter 20).

Valhalla....

name of the book and it was part of the plot of TO..
and I swear there was another book about it...maybe a Kurt Austin book?

Sheesh!

Yes, the Kurt Austin adventure Blue Gold.

Brynhild Sigurd has her main headquarters- Valhalla- in Lake Tahoe.

Francesca Cabral and Gamay Trout were abducted and taken there.

Another thread - the Andrea Doria

 Boland - "No job too large, no job too small ... we could almost raise the Andrea Doria if they turned us loose on it." Pacific Vortex (7) p.87

 'The excitement rose to s crescendo over a human interest story not seen since the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956.' Deep Six (62) p. 376

 St. Julien Perlmutter has crystal wine glasses from the former Italian luxury liner the Andrea Doria. Dirk Pitt brought up the rack of wineglasses on a dive he made on the wreck and gave them to him as a gift. Flood Tide (26)

 The Andrea Doria is rammed by the Stockholm and sinks. Serpent (Prologue)

 Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala dive on the shipwreck in Serpent (42)

Pitt shook his head. "You're talking sheer fantasy. The Titanic lies in nearly two and a half miles of water. The pressure at those depths runs several thousand pounds to the square inch, Mr. Seagram; not square foot or square yard, but square inch. The difficulties and barriers are staggering. No one has ever seriously attempted to raise the Andrea Doria or the Lusitania from the bottom . . . and they both lie only three hundred feet from the surface." Raise the Titanic

A new thread for fun - the Fortune Teller

Pitt to Sandecker - "At this point my crystal ball gets foggy." Iceberg (7)

"Based on what?"
"Intuition."
"Are you using tarot cards or a crystal ball?"
"Actually, I favor tea leaves." Treasure (48)

"You missed your calling by not becoming a palm reader." Sahara (34)

Maeve - "how can you possibly read my thoughts?"
Pitt - "It's a gift. I have Gypsy blood running in my veins."
"You, a Gypsy?"
"According to the family tree, my paternal ancestors, who migrated from Spain to England in the seventeenth century, were Gypsies."
"And now you read palms and tell fortunes." Shock Wave (26)

A nw thread - Dear Heart

Pitt to Summer - "You're not with Naval Intelligence, dear heart." Pacific Vortex (3)

Pitt to receptionist - "OK dearheart," Pitt said menacingly. "You get up off your well-rounded little bottom and you go and inform the Director that Major Dirk Pitt is waiting to keep the appointment set by Inspector Zacynthus." The Mediterranean Caper (Tally)

Pitt to Tidi - "Where did they hurt you, dearheart?" Iceberg (17)

Pitt to Dana Seagram - "Sorry, dear heart, it's the best I can do at the moment." Raise the Titanic (66)

Pitt to Julie Lee - "Dear heart, you're in big trouble." Flood Tide (25)
Pitt to Julie Lee - "Dear heart, I'm always in big trouble with the government." Flood Tide (54)

Pitt to Epona - "Not a smart move, dear heart." Trojan Odyssey (39)

After all those dear hearts, Clive Cussler finally names a boat ...

Dear Heart, a sailboat in Trojan Odyssey (43)

James Bond

Brian Shaw - "Who are you?"
"Pitt. Dirk Pitt." Night Probe! (50)

Bond. James Bond

"James Bond would have been proud of you," Pitt said dryly.
"Bond?"
"Yes, I hear the two of you were quite close."
Shaw exhaled his breath in a long sigh. "He exists only in fiction." Night Probe! (86)

Toshie is described as looking like "she'd stepped put of a James Bond
movie. Dragon (18)

Pitt - "Are James Bond and Jack Ryan coming, too?" Atlantis Found (12)

"It was like something out of James Bond!" Yuri had a broad smile on his face. Fire Ice (16)

As jargon, 'bad penny' denotes a person who turns up a disproportionate number of times over a long period of one's life. In Dirk Pitt's case, he beats adverse odds again, and again, and again...

Giordino - "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to turn up."
"Bad pennies usually do," said Pitt
Deep Six (58)

"That damned guy is like the bad penny that always turns up," said Giordino, fighting to control his emotions.
Inca gold (60)

A different penny line thread -

In for a penny, in for a pound (UK): Something you say which means that since you have started something or are involved in it, you should complete the work although it has become more difficult or complicated than you had expected. (dictionary.cambridge.org/cald)

The old line "In for a penny, in for a pound" ran through Shaw's mind.
Night Probe! (15)

"In for a penny, in for a pound."
Sahara (58)

'Whatever scheme Pitt devised, no matter how insane or ridiculous, Giordino was in for a penny, in for a pound, without the slightest protest.'
Atlantis Found (8)

Another theme I just noticed is Boy Scouts. Probably cause Dr Cussler was an Eagle Scout.

There's two that I can think of, but I'm sure there's more.

Golden Buddha p.65 - "The soggy flags on the stern were pivoting on their staffs as fast as a determined Boy Scout trying to light a fire with a stick."

White Death (don't remember the pg.) - Kurt and Joe are talking by the side of a ravine right after Joe pulled a rope out of his pack, and Kurt said something like "And I thought I was prepared by having my Swiss Army knife." To which Joe responds something like, "Well, before you nominate me for a Boy Scout merit badge..."

Also, Dirk and Al were both Eagle Scouts.

I'm sure there are more references somewhere...