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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dirk communicate about the sub's crew in his initial message back to the Martha Ann?

2. How long has it been since Dirk has had a vacation?

3. Which seamen could have survived immediately after "the disaster" befell the Starbuck according to the logbook?

4. How is the boarding party killed according to the San Gabriel's report?

5. What are Boland's instructions upon hearing Dirk's message from the supposedly wrecked submarine?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the multiple ways that the Martha Ann is disguised as a civilian ship?

2. What are some of the ways that Dirk knows that Summer is neither a government agent nor an American?

3. In the hotel bar in Chapter 3, Adrian makes the statement: "Considering your amateur standing and less than mediocre talents, you're vastly overpriced. Whom is she speaking to and what does she mean?

4. What is the Fullerton Fracture Zone? Does it actually exist?

5. Why is the Martha Ann disguised to look like a rust-bucket merchant ship?

6. CDR Dupree says he ordered, "All ballast blown and hard rise on the planes." What are planes in reference to a submarine?

7. Boland refers to himself as "the skipper" of the Martha Ann. What is a skipper?

8. Why is LT March so resistant to the idea of entering the submarine?

9. What is the significance of there not being any paper in the crew's lounge area of the Starbuck?

10. Why is the Starbuck's last reported position Top Secret information?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Quote from CDR Burdette Denver: "Piracy on the high seas went out with the manufacture of cutlasses." Is this actually a true statement? Is piracy a possible or probable explanation for the Pacific Vortex? Provide evidence both from the book and from independent research to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Review the excerpts in Chapter 2 with the knowledge from Chapter 8 that the log is not written by CDR Dupree. What are some oddities, some of them enumerated by ADM Hunter, that clearly show a lack of knowledge about the Navy, submarines, or Dupree, that would have triggered skepticism if not read with the preconceived notion that the log is authentic?

Essay Topic 3

Examined carefully, the association between Dirk's reason for visiting to the Polynesian history museum and George Papaaloa's story of Kanoli is slightly obscure except as a plot mechanism. There is nothing Papaaloa relates in the story of Kanoli to suggest that it is related to the Pacific Vortex. The relevance of this revelation seems somewhat abstract. This is especially true since the Vortex has only been "operational" for about 40 years. Rewrite this episode using the essence of the legend of Kanoli as it stands but add elements that allow the two stories to appear related, making the transition from one to the other more smoothly.

(see the answer keys)

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