The Bootlegger

1931-07-15 – 2020-02-24

Cussler began writing novels in 1965 and published his first work featuring his continuous series hero, Dirk Pitt, in 1973. His first non-fiction, The Sea Hunters, was released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the Maritime College, State University of New York, considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded Cussler a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997. It was the first time since the College was founded in 1874 that such a degree was bestowed. Cussler is an internationally recognized authority on shipwrecks and the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, (NUMA) a 501C3 non-profit organization (named after the fictional Federal agency in his novels) th…

20 July 1944

Justin Scott is the author of thirty-eight thrillers, mysteries and sea stories including The Man Who Loved The Normandie, Rampage, and The Shipkiller, which the International Thriller Writers lists in Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads. Born in Manhattan July 20, 1944, he grew up on Long Island’s Great South Bay in a family of professional writers. His father, A. Leslie Scott, wrote Westerns and poetry. His mother, Lily K. Scott, wrote novels and short stories for slicks and pulps. His sister, Alison Scott Skelton, is a novelist, as was her late husband, C.L. Skelton. The Mystery Writers of America nominated Scott for Edgar Allan Poe awards for Best First Novel (1974)and Best Short Story (1994…