Novelist Clive Cussler told the crowd filling Gerlinger Hall’s Alumni Lounge on Friday night that he researches historical events for inspiration and guidance to make stories seem plausible but also considers hypothetical “what if?” scenarios.
“What if a World War I biplane attacks a modern jet plane?” Cussler said. “It’s fun stuff.”
Among Cussler’s novels is the Dirk Pitt adventure “Sahara,” which was turned into a Hollywood film starring Matthew McConaughey.
Frances Cogan, a professor of literature in the University’s Robert D. Clark Honors College, titled her class “Colloquium on Adventure Fiction: Homer to Clive Cussler” after the man she described as “probably the best plotter in the modern world.” The curriculum, intended for Clark Honors College students with at least sophomore standing, includes Cogan’s favorite Cussler novel, “Treasure.”
Cogan wrote a letter to Cussler inviting him to visit her class. After about six weeks with no response, she said she’d forgotten about it. Then, while she was in her office working on a book she’s writing, Cussler called.
“I just about dropped the phone,” Cogan said.
Cogan told Cussler that because the University’s budget is limited, she wouldn’t be able to provide him a large honorarium if he came to speak. He agreed to come without an honorarium and to foot his own travel costs. Cussler was originally going to speak to only Cogan’s class, but a large public lecture was planned instead to accommodate all the people who had shown interest in attending.
“He’s exactly the way I hoped he’d be, and that is generous and kind and funny and very down to earth,” Cogan said.
Cussler said he began writing when he was an advertiser living in a tract house in California. His wife took a job working nights for the police department, while he was home putting their children to bed.
“Afterwards I didn’t have anyone to talk to, so I thought: ‘Gee, I’ll write a book,’” Cussler said.
In the California tract house, Cussler’s typewriter was in the bedroom of his son Dirk, who became the namesake for Dirk Pitt.
Pitt, the hero of 18 Cussler novels, also drew some characteristics from Cussler himself.
Cussler and Pitt were both 36 years old at the time the first novel was written, but Pitt is now only 45, while Cussler is 74.
Cussler uses the proceeds from his books to finance his second major enterprise: the National Underwater and Marine Agency, a foundation that investigates – and has found at least 60 – old shipwrecks.
The agency, which is named after the fictional Pitt’s employer, came into existence in 1978 when Cussler began searching for the Bonhomme Richard, which American sailor John Paul Jones used to attack Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. Jones won the battle, but the ship was so badly damaged that it sank. After six expeditions to the North Sea near Great Britain, Cussler and company are still looking for the ship. A seventh trip is planned for next year.
These expeditions are more a labor of love than a search for riches, Cussler said.
“Everybody thinks I’m crazy and belong in a rubber room because I’m not looking for treasure,” Cussler said.
One of the agency’s success stories was finding the CSS Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship in battle. The submarine lost three crews in three incidents.
After the third incident, the submarine went missing. Cussler’s group found it in 1995.
The silt filling the submarine preserved its contents, which included many valuable Civil War artifacts. The bodies of the submarine’s final crew were also preserved, so Cussler and his crew extracted them and buried them near the graves of the second crew. They also found the bones of the first crew underneath a football stadium and put them near the other two crews.
Cussler said 15,000 Confederate re-enactors showed up in uniform for the burial.
Eugene resident Mike Cherba, who attended the lecture, said he’s read at least a dozen Cussler novels since a high school girlfriend introduced him to them about 10 years ago.
“They’re fun and they’re different,” Cherba said.
Karen Lefkowitch, a nurse in Eugene, said she likes Cussler’s books for their coverage of historical events.
“It’s always believable but always a little more exciting than real life,” she said.

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