Yellow Journalism and Fundament Kissing...

If the blurb on the jacket is to be believed, Brian Hicks is a journalist of some accomplishment - sadly, “Sea of Darkness” will do nothing to enhance his resume. It is a one sided collection of blatant falsehoods, poor historical research and (bearing in mind this is supposed to be a piece of non-fiction), fantasy in which the author enters the minds of the historical characters. The first rule of professional journalism is to verify one’s information by checking with more than one source. Hicks has clearly failed to do this. Instead he has accepted a trove of falsehoods and self serving puffery from Cussler and his organization. In doing so his book is filled with inaccuracies and howlers. For example, on page 147, Hicks describes “a thoughtful scientist and SCIAA official," - a person who in fact was a malcontent diver-gofer on USC staff. Similarly, Hicks faithfully quotes Cussler's description of his staff as "archaeologists." Again, the truth is that none of his staff had a single archaeological degree among them. One was a student who begged SCIAA to be on the two week field project that ended the twenty year search, the others were divers with some experience.. The sad truth, to be revealed in a forthcoming book, is that the actual location of the Hunley, located in secret in the fall of 1994, was leaked to Cussler's amateur crew. They immediately excavated the submarine - originally in pristine condition beneath two meters and one hundred and sixty years of anaerobic mud. They then left it exposed to oxygenated salt water for five years before it was raised. The result was a corroded wreck - atrocious damage to the most important submarine in our history. Cussler boasts about video taken of the excavation - not realizing it documents the excellent condition of the metal, now ruined by arrogant ignorance in search of fame and book sales.