In 1856, a British clipper ship sinks after a stormwhile transporting convicts to an Australian penalcolony. After horrible carnage on a raft, the pitiful survivors, among them Betsy Fletcher and Jess Dorsett,are washed up on a solitary tropical island, where theydiscover an immense source of diamonds and found apowerful and wealthy dynasty.

One hundred forty years later, Maeve Fletcher, oneof their descendants, is stranded on an island inAntarctica with a party of passengers after their cruiseship seemingly abandons them. Dirk Pitt, on an expedition to find the source of a deadly plague that is killingdolphins and seals in the Weddell Sea, finds Maeve andthe passengers and rescues them from death.

When Pitt later uncovers the cause of the plague, hediscovers that Maeve's father, Arthur Dorsett, and hertwo sisters are responsible because of their diamond-mining technology. A deadly race develops to stopDorsett from continuing his murderous mining operations and to head off a disaster that will kill millions.

Pitt's struggle to foil Dorsett's ruthless plan todestroy the market for diamonds and thus gain amonopoly of his own takes him from harrowing adventures off the west coast of Canada to being cast adrift inthe Tasman Sea in a small boat with his good friend AlGiordino and the lovely Maeve Dorsett.

Through trial by storms, hunger, and thirst, Pitt'sinventive genius and relentless drive to survive eventuallybring him to a final, spine-chilling confrontationwith Arthur Dorsett himself, at the very heart of hisdomain, with the clock ticking against devastatingtragedy -- a confrontation in which Pitt gains triumph,but at the cost of great personal loss, as he discovers alethal surprise that will shock and astonish the reader.

Only Clive Cussler -- the Grandmaster of Adventure --could have written a story this suspenseful.


In this explosive Dirk Pitt novel by the author of Inca Gold, Pitt meets the most intriguing and sinister villain of his adventurous and legendary career--a billionaire Australian diamond king with whom he must wage conflict above and below the sea for the survival of vast numbers of sea creatures and more than a million human beings. Only Clive Cussler--the Grandmaster of Adventure--could have written a story this suspenseful.