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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. How many distress signals have been received from ships that have gone down where the Starbuck is last reported?

2. What does the Marine guard at ADM Hunter's building on Pearl Harbor base ask Dirk for when he reports?

3. What or who is Andrei Vyborg?

4. Why does ADM Hunter think CDR Dupree ordered his captain's log delivered to him?

5. What is a "fo'c's'le"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Acting on a hunch, Dirk goes to the Polynesian history museum to visit a friend well versed in the history and culture of the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands. Why?

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

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

4. ADM Hunter refers to CDR Dupree as having a reputation for a computer-like mind. Going back to the prologue, what are some statements that support this view of Hunter's? (Dupree refers to "Annapolis." What does he mean by that?)

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

6. What are some ways the Pacific Vortex is different from the Bermuda Triangle and other legendary danger areas?

7. How does Adrian Hunter feel about her father? Use quotes from Chapter to support your position.

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

9. What is a seamount?

10. Dirk does not appreciate ADM Hunter's highhanded move to take control of his [Dirk's] life by having him detailed to his [ADM Hunter's] command. How is he "persuaded" into it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pacific Vortex! is the first Dirk Pitt novel Clive Cussler wrote (even though it is published much later, after several other Pitt adventures) and indeed it shows signs of being a novice attempt. The character development is somewhat sporadic, there are questions or plot mysteries that are later left unanswered and some scenes that almost seem extraneous which are only loosely tied together by the final explanation. Characterize some of these "novice" elements using firm examples from the book. At the end, is there anything you wondered, "yes, but what about...?" How could Cussler have woven these plot threads or characters more tightly into the fabric of the story?

Essay Topic 2

How would you characterize Cussler's writing style in Pacific Vortex? Analyze all of the elements of writing style including the perspective, bias, structure, diction and syntax, imagery, etc. Is this a laudable first effort on Cussler's part? Is there perhaps a stylistic reason it is not the first published book?

Essay Topic 3

Singularly absent from the entire book is any elaboration on these "men from the sea." The closest explanation of any aspect of them is Dirk's comments: "Even your hired help wander around like robots" and "your entire organization is built on blind obedience to you [Delphi]." There is no comment on where they came from, who they were, or what kind of man might have volunteered to abandon his above-sea life to have a gill surgically attached to his chest and become a mass murderer. Analyze the concept of this underwater army and who they are, or might have been.

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