cruise programming, for his leadership in OpSail 2000, and for his lifelong support of our nation’s maritime museums. An avid racing sailor from childhood, Robertson won many national and international events, including the Newport Bermuda Race, the Queen’s Cup, and the National Championship in the Atlantic Class in many different types of racing yachts, including the 73-foot Maxi Cannonball. In the 1980s he operated Williams & Manchester Yacht Builders in Newport, Rhode Island, which produced
Charlie was an American original. His cruise ships plied the waters of both coasts, and the rivers as well. He was one of a kind, a thorough gentleman, always ready with constructive opinions, and also a thoughtful listener. He was a loyal and irreplaceable friend to NMHS. —George W. Carmany III, NMHS Overseer four America’s Cup contenders. In 2016, in his later years, flying modified ex-milihe purchased the 12-meter yacht Freedom tary aircraft and participating in shows and (US-30), gave her a complete refit, and put demonstrations around the country. her back in the racing circuit. She was an Robertson was chairman emeritus of active competitor throughout the 2019 Operation Sail, Inc., and served on the World Championship series. boards of the New York Yacht Club, MysAn aviator and airline pilot for Shenan- tic Seaport, the Smithsonian National Air doah Airlines and Eastern Airlines earlier & Space Museum, and the Chesapeake Bay in life, Robertson returned to this interest Maritime Museum.
courtesy janet cussler
Clive Eric Cussler, celebrated author, internationally recognized authority on shipwrecks, founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), and NMHS overseer, captivated millions with his bestselling tales of suspense and led scores of expeditions to find historic shipwrecks in the ocean depths.
NUMA first appeared as a fictional government organization that employed his book protagonist, Dirk Pitt. In 1979 Cussler founded the real-life National Underwater and Marine Agency, a private non-profit dedicated to “preserving maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey, and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.” Cussler and his crew of marine experts have discovered more than sixty historically significant underwater shipwreck sites, including the Confederate submarine Hunley, and USS Housatonic; U-20, the U-boat that sank the Lusitania; USS Cumberland, which was
sunk by the famous ironclad, CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack); and the Cunard steamship Carpathia, first to reach survivors of the Titanic, later sunk by German torpedoes off Ireland in 1918. In 1973 Cussler published his first novel featuring his recurring hero, Dirk Pitt, in The Mediterranean Caper. He wrote more than 85 books, reaching the New York Times fiction bestseller list over twenty times; they have been translated into more than forty languages. Raise the Titanic! (1976), his breakthrough novel, was adapted for a movie, released in 1980. His first non-fiction book, The Sea Hunters (1996, with Craig Dirgo), about exploring famous shipwrecks through his NUMA exploits, was made into a television documentary series featuring Cussler as narrator.
courtesy james delgado
Clive E. Cussler (1931–2020)
Mike Fletcher, James Delgado, and Clive Cussler during the production of The Sea Hunters episode about the Mary Celeste. guished Service Award in 2001 for his underwater research and successful efforts in locating CSS Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. Now in its own museum in Charleston, South Carolina,
Clive Cussler’s legacy is more than entertaining books and connecting people to the mysteries of shipwrecks and the stories they tell. He funded and participated in numerous searches, many of them successful. It is thanks to him that so many people have discovered powerful stories about the sea, ships, and the people associated with them. — James Delgado, PhD, maritime archaeologist, SEARCH, Inc. (co-host of The Sea Hunters)
Cussler grew up in Alhambra, California, and attended Pasadena City College for two years. He enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War and served as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer in the Military Air Transport Service. Upon discharge, he became a copywriter and later creative director of two of the nation’s leading ad agencies. He wrote and produced radio and television commercials in Hollywood that won numerous international awards, including an award at the Cannes Film Festival. The National Maritime Historical Society recognized Cussler with its Distin-
the submarine provided Cussler with an unending supply of great adventures and stories. Clive Cussler was a great friend to the maritime heritage community, and a great speaker. The maritime heritage community got an opportunity to listen to him speak and ask questions when the National Maritime Alliance presented him with its first Maritime Heritage Conference Award of Distinction in Baltimore in 2010. He will be missed by the millions who loved his books and by everyone in the maritime field to which he so generously gave of his time and self.
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