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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 ship is responsible for reporting the incident to the Lillie Marlene?

2. What does Dirk discover in Summer's hand when he goes to pick her up and take her back to the hotel?

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

4. How long can the reactor continue to run unattended?

5. What weather phenomenon features in both the reports of the Lillie Marlene and the Starbuck?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the dead bodies described on the Lillie Marlene? How does this description contribute to the myth of the Pacific Vortex?

2. Why is it important for ADM Hunter's men to get to the accident site when the gray van runs off the road before the Honolulu police?

3. A gray Dodge van pursues Dirk and the driver of the van begins shooting at Dirk before attempting to run him off the road. Unravel the mystery. Who has the motive, knowledge, and opportunity to tip off "Them," whoever "They" might be, to Dirk's presence and interested activity?

4. How does Dirk determine that Hunter's crew has been searching the wrong area?

5. Other than the submarine not being wholly flooded, what is the single most important fact that Dirk relays over the Starbuck's radio to the Martha Ann and why is it of the utmost significance?

6. "Perhaps Pitt could do the impossible after all." These words go through Boland's mind after he hears that Pitt is radioing the Martha Ann from the Starbuck. There are several other references throughout the book so far that indicate Dirk has a reputation for being the sort of person who makes the wildly improbable succeed effortless. Who else has said this and where is that perception originating?

7. Dirk notes some distinct oddities about the Starbuck's final resting place and the condition. Describe what these oddities mean.

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

9. Dirk describes a few incidents he has known in his work that "smacked of Jules Verne." Describe them and discuss Dirk's attitude towards "ghost catching."

10. Capt. Cinana quotes a Naval saying: "Those that lie deep in the Atlantic Sea Are recalled by shrines, wreathes and poetry, But those who lie in Pacific Sea Lie forgotten for all eternity." What does this mean?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Part of the significance of the Starbuck to the Navy in Pacific Vortex! is her nuclear engineering and capability. Describe what nuclear power means to a submarine. What advantages does it give to a Naval submarine? How does this factor in to the various plot elements (concerns about operating the sub, condition of the sub, allowing her to sit, allowing her to be found by others, attempting to destroy her, etc.)?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

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