Pacific Vortex: He hadn't the slightest intention of arriving and more...

pg 45

He hadn't the slightest intention of arriving at Hunter's headquarters on time.

Not really an annotation, but I must just say that I find Pitt's character in this book extremely annoying.

He's wearing only a swim-suit, earlier in the book, when he finds the communication pod, and instead of getting dressed he drives to the naval base and barges into an Admiral's office and expects to be taken seriously. How stupid is that?

Now, here, Cussler has him being deliberately late to an appointment. Presumably this is meant as further proof of Pitt's independence and maverick spirit, but really, it's just plain rude.

The Mauser, Model 712 Schnell Fueur Pistole Serial number 47405 could only be described as a positively bloodthirsty firearm.

From: http://www.nramuseum.com/the-museum/the-galleries/ever-vigilant/case-62-world-war-ii-axis-germany-and-italy/mauser-model-712-schnellfeuer-machine-pistol.aspxClosely resembling the Mauser Model 1896 "Broomhandle" semi-automatic pistol, the Model 712 "Schnellfeuer" is a selective-fire pistol that features a detachable magazine, detachable shoulder stock, and 50 - 1000 meter rear sight.

The Schnellfeuer-Pistole ("Rapid-fire pistol") was a modification of the popular Mauser 7.63mm Model 1896 "Broomhandle" pistol. Originally developed by the Oberndorf firm, the semi-auto M1896 served with German units throughout the First World War. This design was copied by the Spanish firms Star and Astra, and versions produced by all three companies were sold in large numbers to the Chinese.

In 1930, Mauser dealers in China reported that they were losing sales to their Spanish competitors due to Astra's introduction of a selective-fire version of this pistol. Mauser mounted a vigorous response to this challenge, as designer Joseph Nickl's recoil-operated selective-fire pistol entering production during that same year. With an effective rate of 900 rounds per minute, these pistols were capable of firing an entire magazine in slightly more than one second. These pistols may be distinguished from the original M1896 pistol design by the presence of a detachable 20-round staggered feed box magazine, which could be removed for loading or charged in place with 10-round stripper clips, and by the bar-type selector switch mounted on the left side of the receiver.

Approximately 4,000 Schnellfeuer Modell 712 pistols were produced in 1930-31, most of which were shipped to China to compete against the Astra design. An improved version designed by Karl Westinger was introduced in 1932 to address reliability problems experienced with the original Modell 712. Externally, these guns are nearly identical to their predecessors, and may be identified by their "oval/point" selector switch. Approximately 98,000 were manufactured between 1932 and 1938, most of which were shipped to China.

In 1939, German armed forces began acquiring the Schnellfeuer under the military designation "Reihenfeuer ("Series Fire") Pistole Modell 713." These were widely issued to Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS military police and reconnaissance units, as well as to motorcycle dispatch riders. In addition, the Modell 713 was adopted by the Kriegsmarine for use by naval infantry troops. Although coupling a proven design of compact size with a select-fire capability would seem to be the best of several worlds, the Schnellfeuer proved otherwise.

These pistols could serve as a standard sidearm in semi-automatic mode, but were not markedly superior to the P.08 and P.38 semi-autos already in German military service. With their shoulder stock/holster attached, they also proved both effective and deadly for short range combat. At longer ranges, however, the Schnellfeuer's light weight and high rate of fire in full-auto mode made it uncontrollable except when fired in short bursts. Even then, its effectiveness was questionable. As sufficient MP38 and MP40 submachine guns became available to Nazi troops, the Schnellfeuer was replaced in the inventories of Germany's fighting forces.

Converting the gun into a carbine for long distance targets

A carbine, from French carabine, is a longarm [The term long arm/gun is used to describe classes of firearm and cannon with longer barrels than other classes. In small arms, a long gun is designed to be fired braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, while in artillery a long gun would be contrasted with a howitzer or carronade] similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length.

The smaller size and lighter weight of carbines makes them easier to handle in close-quarter situations such as urban or jungle warfare, or when deploying from military vehicles. The disadvantages of carbines relative to rifles include inferior long-range accuracy and a shorter effective range. Being larger than a submachine gun, they are harder to maneuver in tight encounters where superior range and stopping power at distance are not great considerations. Firing the same ammunition as rifles gives carbines the advantage of standardization over those personal defense weapons (PDWs) that require proprietary cartridges.

Carbines are issued to high-mobility troops such as special-operations soldiers and paratroopers, as well as to mounted, supply, or other non-infantry personnel whose roles do not require full-sized rifles.

He parked the car and walked past a small, neatly carved sign that read: Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and Natural History

Bernice Pauahi Bishop (December 19, 1831–October 16, 1884), born Bernice Pauahi Pākī, was a Hawaiian princess, philanthropist, aliʻi, and direct descendant of the royal House of Kamehameha. She was the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I and last surviving heir. Her estate is the largest private landowner in the state of Hawaiʻi, comprising approximately 9% of Hawaii's total area. The revenues from these lands are used to operate the Kamehameha Schools, which were established in 1887 according to Pauahi's will. Pauahi was married to businessman and philanthropist Charles Reed Bishop.

Spartan Gold: Peat bog and more

pg 40

"Don't feel bad, Sam. That peat bog did jump right in front of us out of nowhere."

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens.

Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic, either from acidic ground water, or where water is derived entirely from precipitation, when they are termed ombrotrophic (rain-fed). Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. Bogs are very sensitive habitats and are of high importance for biodiversity.

Types of bog
Bog habitats may develop in various situations, depending on the climate and topography. The main types are:

Valley bog
These develop in gently sloping valleys or hollows. A layer of peat fills the deepest part of the valley, and a stream may run through the surface of the bog. Valley bogs may develop in relatively dry and warm climates, but because they rely on ground or surface water, they only occur on acidic substrates.

Raised bog
These develop from a lake or flat marshy area, over either non-acidic or acidic substrates. Over centuries there is a progression from open lake, to marsh, then fen (or on acidic substrates, valley bog) and carr, as silt or peat fill the lake. Eventually peat builds up to a level where the land surface is too flat for ground or surface water to reach the centre of the wetland. This part therefore becomes wholly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), and the resulting acidic conditions allow the development of bog (even if the substrate is non-acidic). The bog continues to form peat, and over time a shallow dome of bog peat develops: a raised bog. The dome is typically a few metres high in the centre, and is often surrounded by strips of fen or other wetland vegetation at the edges or along streamsides, where ground water can percolate into the wetland.

Blanket bog
In cool climates with consistently high rainfall, the ground surface may remain waterlogged for much of the time, providing conditions for the development of bog vegetation. In these circumstances bog develops as a layer "blanketing" much of the land, including hilltops and slopes. Although blanket bog is more common on acidic substrates, under some conditions it may also develop on neutral or even alkaline ones, if abundant acidic rainwater predominates over the ground water. Blanket bog cannot occur in drier or warmer climates, because under those conditions hilltops and sloping ground dry out too often for peat to form – in intermediate climates blanket bog may be limited to areas which are shaded from direct sunshine. In periglacial climates a patterned form of blanket bog may occur, known as string bog.

Quaking bog
Quaking bog or schwingmoor is a form of bog occurring in wetter parts of valley bogs and raised bogs, and sometimes around the edges of acidic lakes where bog is beginning to form. The bog vegetation forms a mat half a metre or so thick, floating over water or very wet peat. Walking on this surface causes it to move – larger movements may cause visible ripples of the surface, or they may even make trees sway.

Named after the daughter of King George II, [Princess Anne] boasted a population of 2,200 souls.

Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (2 November 1709 – 12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands. Princess Anne was the second daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title Princess Royal. She was Regent of the Netherlands from 1751 until her death in 1759, exercising extensive powers on behalf of her son William V. Because of her English upbringing and family connections, she was known as an Anglophile - despite being unable to convince the Dutch Republic to enter the Seven Years' War on the side of the British.

With a population just under 2400 people, this hamlet at the head of the Manokin River was named for Princess Anne of Great Britain, daughter of King George II. It was established in 1733 and serves as the county seat for Somerset County (the southernmost county in Maryland).

In the mid-18th century, Princess Anne gained considerable importance as a market center because of the river trade. This was later augmented by the southward extension of the Eastern Shore Railroad on Maryland's Eastern Shore. At that time, the Manokin River was navigable as far as the bridge at Princess Anne.

Much of the town's architectural heritage from those days has been preserved. About 150 acres (0.61 km2) of the old town, containing about 300 structures, is entered on the National Register of Historic Places as the Princess Anne Historic District.

As he reached the turn-in, a black Buick Lucerne sedan pulled out.

The Buick Lucerne is a full-size car sold by the Buick division of General Motors. Introduced at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show, the Lucerne replaced both the Park Avenue and the LeSabre for the 2006 model year, and was sold through the 2011 model year. The Lucerne was based on a revised H-body platform, which it shared with the late Pontiac Bonneville.

Pacific Vortex: FXH helicopter and more

pg 43

"Also, the 101st Fleet wants to borrow our new long-range FXH helicopter"

This is a fictional helicopter.

"They'd simply send their most seductive Mata Hari to the nearest bar and let you pick her up."

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden - 15 October 1917, Vincennes), a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.

During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. As a Dutch subject, Margaretha Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she travelled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. In 1916, she was travelling by steamer from Spain when her ship called at the English port of Falmouth. There she was arrested and brought to London where she was interrogated at length by Sir Basil Thomson, Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard in charge of counter-espionage. He gave an account of this in his 1922 book Queer People, saying that she eventually admitted to working for French Intelligence. Initially detained in Canon Street police station, she was then released and stayed at the Savoy Hotel. A full transcript of the interview is in Britain's National Archives and was broadcast with Mata Hari played by Eleanor Bron on the independent station London Broadcasting in 1980.

It is unclear if she lied on this occasion, believing the story made her sound more intriguing, or if French authorities were using her in such a way, but would not acknowledge her due to the embarrassment and international backlash it could cause.

In January 1917, the German military attaché in Madrid transmitted radio messages to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy, code-named H-21. French intelligence agents intercepted the messages and, from the information they contained, identified H-21 as Mata Hari. Unusually, the messages were in a code that German intelligence knew had already been broken by the French, leaving some historians to suspect that the messages were contrived.

Trial and execution
On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Secret ink was found in her room, which was incriminating evidence in that period. She contended that it was part of her make-up. She wrote several letters to the Dutch Consul in Paris, claiming her innocence. "My international connections are due of my work as a dancer, nothing else [...]. Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself." She was found guilty and was executed by firing squad on 15 October 1917, at the age of 41.

Pat Shipman's biography Femme Fatale argues that Mata Hari was never a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage. Georges Ladoux had been responsible for recruiting Mata Hari as a French spy and later was arrested for being a double agent himself.

The facts of the case remain vague because the official case documents regarding the execution were sealed for 100 years, although in 1985, biographer Russell Warren Howe managed to convince the French Minister of National Defense to break open the file, about 32 years early. It was revealed that Mata Hari was innocent of her charges of espionage.

[edit] Legend and popular cultureThe fact that almost immediately after her death questions arose about the justification of her execution, on top of rumours about the way she acted during her execution, set the story. The idea of an exotic dancer working as a lethal double agent, using her powers of seduction to extract military secrets from her many lovers fired the popular imagination, set the legend and made Mata Hari an enduring archetype of the femme fatale.

Much of the popularity is owed to the film titled Mata Hari (1931) and starring Greta Garbo in the leading role. While based on real events in the life of Margaretha Zelle, the plot was largely fictional, appealing to the public appetite for fantasy at the expense of historical fact. Immensely successful as a form of entertainment, the exciting and romantic character in this film inspired subsequent generations of storytellers. Eventually, Mata Hari featured in more films, television series, and in video games, but increasingly, it is only the use of Margaretha Zelle's famous stage name that bears any resemblance to the real person. Kurt Vonnegut's novel Mother Night is dedicated to her. Many books have been written about Mata Hari, some of them serious historical and biographical accounts, but many of them highly speculative.

They salvaged the New Century off Libya, the Southwind in the Black Sea, the Tari Maru within sight of the lights of China.

These are all fictional ships, invented for the purpose of the book.

"Why all the cloak and dagger?"

Cloak and dagger is a term sometimes used to refer to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery.

The phrase has two possible origins. One dates from the early 19th century and is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée and Spanish de capa y espada (literally "of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of drama in which the main characters literally wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón - a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" in his work Barnaby Rudge a year later as a sarcastic reference to this style of drama. The imagery of these two items became associated with the archetypical spy or assassin: The cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.

In historical European martial arts, the term can be taken literally, and refers to wielding a dagger in one hand and a cloak in the other. The purpose of the cloak was to obscure the presence or movement of the dagger, to provide minor protection from slashes, to restrict the movement of the opponent's weapon, and to provide a distraction. Use of the cloak and dagger was considered a "dishonest" method of combat because of its deceptive tactics. Giacomo di Grassi, in "His True Art of Defense" (1570), included a section called "The Rapier and Cloake".

Spartan Gold: Commercial subs don't have periscopes and more

pg 37

"As far as I know, commercial subs-for surveys or mapping or whatever-don't have periscopes."

A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle. More complex periscopes, using prisms instead of mirrors, and providing magnification, operate on submarines. The overall design of the classical submarine periscope is very simple: two telescopes pointed into each other. If the two telescopes have different individual magnification, the difference between them causes an overall magnification or reduction.

Periscopes allow a submarine, when submerged at a shallow depth, to search visually for nearby targets and threats on the surface of the water and in the air. When not in use, a submarine's periscope retracts into the hull. A submarine commander in tactical conditions must exercise discretion when using his periscope, since it creates a visible wake and may also become detectable by radar, giving away the sub's position.

21st-century submarines do not necessarily have periscopes. The United States Navy's Virginia-class submarines and the Royal Navy's Astute Class submarines instead use photonics masts, pioneered by the Royal Navy's HMS Trenchant, which lift an electronic imaging sensor-set above the water. Signals from the sensor-set travel electronically to workstations in the submarine's control center. While the cables carrying the signal must penetrate the submarine's hull, they use a much smaller and more easily sealed—and therefore less expensive and safer—hull opening than those required by periscopes. Eliminating the telescoping tube running through the conning tower also allows greater freedom in designing the pressure hull and in placing internal equipment.

NOTE
Military submarines are called submarines. Research submarines are called submersibles. They don't have periscopes because they're not needed for stealth purposes.

After dessert, a tiramasu so good it left them temporarily speechgless...

Tiramisu, literally "pick me up", is an Italian cake and dessert.

It is made of ladyfingers (Italian: Savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of puddings, cakes and other desserts.

History
There is some debate regarding tiramisu's origin. It may have originated as a variation of another layered dessert, the Zuppa Inglese.

It is mentioned in Giovanni Capnist's 1983 cookbook I Dolci Del Veneto, while Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary gives 1982 as the first mention of the dessert.

Several sources (from Vin Veneto, dated 1981, to the Italian Academy of Giuseppe Maffioli and several cuisine websites) claim that tiramisu was invented in Treviso at Le Beccherie restaurant by the god-daughter and apprentice of confectioner Roberto Linguanotto, Francesca Valori, whose maiden name was Tiramisu. It is believed that Linguanotto named the dish in honour of Francesca's culinary skill.

Other sources report the creation of the cake to have originated in the city of Siena. Some confectioners were said to have created it in honour of Cosimo III on the occasion of his visit to the city. Alternatively, accounts by Carminantonio Iannaccone as researched and written about by The Washington Post establish the creation of tiramisu by him on 24 December 1969 in Via Sottotreviso while he was head chef at Treviso, near Venice.

"Well, there was that time in Mumbai--"

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. As of 2009, Mumbai was named an Alpha world city.[5] Mumbai is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.

Pacific Vortex: Mayday signal and more

pg 42

"A ship would have to go down in seconds not to transmit a mayday signal."

Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come help me".

It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by mariners and aviators but in some countries local organisations such as police forces, firefighters, and transportation organizations may also use the term. The call is always given three times in a row ("Mayday Mayday Mayday") to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual Mayday call from a message about a Mayday call.

"If they locate the remains, their salvage ships won't require an act of God to raise her from ten fathoms."

Act of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.

In the law of contracts, an act of God may be interpreted as an implied defence under the rule of impossibility or impracticability. If so, the promise is discharged because of unforeseen occurrences, which were unavoidable and would result in insurmountable delay, expense, or other material breach.

For example, suppose an opera singer and a concert hall have a contract. The singer promises to appear and perform at a certain time on a certain date. The hall promises to have the stage and audio equipment ready for her. However, a tornado destroys the hall a month before the concert is to take place. Of course, the hall is not responsible for the tornado. It may be impossible for the hall to rebuild in time to keep its promise. On the other hand, it may be possible but extraordinarily expensive to reconstruct on such short notice. The hall would argue that the tornado was an act of God and excuses its nonperformance via impossibility or impracticability.

In other contracts, such as indemnification, an act of God may be no excuse, and in fact may be the central risk assumed by the promisor—e.g., flood insurance or crop insurance—the only variables being the timing and extent of the damage. In many cases, failure by way of ignoring obvious risks due to "natural phenomena" will not be sufficient to excuse performance of the obligation, even if the events are relatively rare: e.g., the year 2000 problem in computers. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, 2-615, failure to deliver goods sold may be excused by an "act of God" if the absence of such act was a "basic assumption" of the contract, but has made the delivery "commercially impracticable".

Recently, human activities have been claimed to be the root causes of events until now considered natural disasters. In particular:

* water pressure in dams releasing geological fault (earthquake in China)
* geothermal injections of water provoking earthquakes (Zurich, Switzerland, 2003—currently on trial)
* drilling provoking mud volcano (Java, ongoing)

Such events are possibly threatening the legal status of Acts of God and may establish liabilities where none existed until now.

"They Navy raised the submarine F-4 from sixty fathoms right here off Oahu...back in 1915."

USS F-4 (SS-23) was a F-class submarine. Her keel was laid down by the Moran Brothers Company of Seattle, Washington. She was originally named Skate, making her the first ship of the United States Navy named for the skate. She was renamed F-4 on 17 November 1911. She was launched on 6 January 1912 sponsored by Mrs. M.F. Backus; and commissioned on 3 May 1913, Lieutenant (junior grade) K.H. Donavin in command.

Service history
Joining the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, F-4 participated in the development operations of that group along the west coast, and from August 1914, in Hawaiian waters. During submarine maneuvers off Honolulu, Hawaii on 25 March 1915, she sank at a depth of 306 ft (93 m), 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the harbor. Despite valorous efforts of naval authorities at Honolulu to locate the missing boat and save her crew, all 21 perished. F-4 was the first commissioned submarine of the U.S. Navy to be lost at sea.

A diving and engineering precedent was established with the Navy's raising of the submarine on 29 August 1915. Courage and tenacity marked the efforts of divers who descended to attach cables to tow the boat into shallow water, while ingenuity and engineering skill characterized the direction of Naval Constructor J.A. Furer, Rear Admiral C.B.T. Moore, and Lieutenant C. Smith who accomplished the feat with the aid of specially devised and constructed pontoons. Navy diver George D Stillson found the superstructure caved in and the hull filled with water.[1] Only four of the dead could be identified; the 17 others were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[2]

The investigating board subsequently conjectured that corrosion of the lead lining of the battery tank had permitted seepage of sea water into the battery compartment and thereby caused the commanding officer to lose control on a submerged run. Others believe that the bypassing of an unreliable magnetic reducer closed a Kingston valve in the forward ballast tank resulting in a delay.[3] Based on other reported issues, there many also have been problems with the air lines supplying the ballast tank.[3]

F-4 was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 August 1915.

In 1940, the remains of F-4 were buried as fill in a trench off the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor.

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-f-4-23.htm (Names and photos of the men lost.)

Spartan Gold: calamari and more

pg 36

To start they ordered calamari with red sauce and porcini mushrooms.

fried calimari
Squid [as opposed to octopus] is a popular food in many parts of the world. In many of the languages around the Mediterranean sea, squid are referred to by a term related to the Italian "calamari" (singular "calamaro"), which in English has become a culinary name for Mediterranean dishes involving squid, especially fried squid (fried calamari). Japan consumes the most squid in the world (around 700,000 tons)

Porcini mushrooms
Boletus edulis, commonly known as penny bun, porcino or cep, is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus Boletus. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occur naturally in the Southern Hemisphere, although it has been introduced to southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Boletus edulis, like its name implies, is an edible mushroom. Italian chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has described it as representing "the wild mushroom par excellence", and hails it as the most rewarding of all fungi in the kitchen for its taste and versatility. Considered a choice edible, particularly in France, Germany and Italy, it was widely written about by the Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Martial.

The flavour has been described as nutty and slightly meaty, with a smooth, creamy texture, and a distinctive aroma reminiscent of sourdough. Young, small porcini are most appreciated by gourmets, as the large ones often harbor maggots (insect larvae), and become slimy, soft and less tasty with age. Fruit bodies are collected by holding the stipe near the base and twisting gently. Cutting the stipe with a knife may risk the part left behind rotting and the mycelium being destroyed. Peeling and washing are not recommended. The fruit bodies are highly perishable, due largely to the high water content (around 90%), the high level of enzyme activity, and the presence of a flora of microorganisms

For entrees, Sam selected a seafood pasta with pesto-sauteed bay scallops and lobster

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pesto genovese) , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo (pecorino sardo). The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. However, the ingredients in a traditionally made pesto are not "pounded" but "ground" with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle

A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source. The brightly colored, fan-shaped shells of some scallops, with their radiating fluted pattern, are valued by shell collectors.

The name "scallop" is derived from the Old French escalope, which means "shell".

Clawed lobsters comprise a family (Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.

Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most often associated with the name. Clawed lobsters are not closely related to spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, which have no claws (chelae), or squat lobsters. The closest relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.

In North America, eating the American lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century, when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it. Prior to this time, lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait, and it was not until well into the twentieth century that it was viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food.

Caught lobsters are graded as new-shell, hard-shell and old-shell and, because lobsters that have recently shed their shells are the most delicate, there is an inverse relationship between the price of American lobster and its flavor. New-shell lobsters have paper-thin shells and a worse meat-to-shell ratio, but what meat exists is very sweet. However, the lobsters are so delicate that even transport to Boston almost kills them, making the market for new-shell lobsters strictly local to the fishing towns where they are offloaded.

Hard-shell lobsters with firm shells but with less sweet meat can survive shipping to Boston, New York and even Los Angeles so they command a higher price than new-shell lobsters.

Meanwhile, old-shell lobsters, which have not shed since the previous season and have a coarser flavor, can be air-shipped anywhere in the world and arrive alive, making them the most expensive. One seafood guide notes that an eight dollar lobster dinner at a restaurant overlooking fishing piers in Maine is consistently delicious, while "the eighty-dollar lobster in a three-star Paris restaurant is apt to be as much about presentation as flavor"

While Remi chose a stuffed shrimp-and-crab ravioli in basil white cream sauce.

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important food source for larger animals from fish to whales. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators. Together with prawns, shrimp are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.

While in biological terms shrimps and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance. In commercial farming and fisheries, the terms "shrimp" and "prawn" are often used interchangeably. However, recent aquaculture literature increasingly uses the term "prawn" only for the freshwater forms of palaemonids and "shrimp" for the marine penaeids.[4]

In the United Kingdom, the word “prawn” is more common on menus than “shrimp”; while the opposite is the case in North America. The term “prawn” is also loosely used to describe any large shrimp, especially those that come 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as “king prawns”, yet sometimes known as “jumbo shrimp”). Australia and some other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word “prawn” almost exclusively. When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, “I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you” in an American television advertisement, it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

In Britain very small crustaceans with a brownish shell are called shrimp, and are used to make potted shrimp. They are also used in dishes where they are not the primary ingredient.

As with other seafood, shrimp is high in calcium, iodine and protein but low in food energy. A shrimp-based meal is also a significant source of cholesterol, from 122 mg to 251 mg per 100 g of shrimp, depending on the method of preparation. Shrimp consumption, however, is considered healthy for the circulatory system because the lack of significant levels of saturated fat in shrimp means that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides.

Shrimp and other shellfish are among the most common food allergens. They are not kosher and thus are forbidden in Jewish cuisine. On the other hand, shrimp are halal according to some madhāhib, and therefore are permissible in Islamic cuisine.

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail", or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax. Many other animals with similar names – such as hermit crabs, king crabs, porcelain crabs, horseshoe crabs and crab lice – are not true crabs.

Crabs are prepared and eaten as a dish in several different ways all over the world. Some species are eaten whole, including the shell, such as soft-shell crab; with other species just the claws and/or legs are eaten. The latter is particularly common for larger crabs, such as the snow crab. Mostly in East Asian cultures, the roe of the female crab is also eaten, which usually appears orange or yellow in color in fertile crabs.

In some regions spices improve the culinary experience. In Asia, masala crab and chilli crab are examples of heavily spiced dishes. In the Chesapeake Bay region, blue crab is often eaten with Old Bay Seasoning.

For the British dish Cromer crab, the crab meat is extracted and placed inside the hard shell. One American way to prepare crab meat is by extracting it and adding a flour mix, creating a crab cake.

Crabs are also used in bisque, a global dish of French origin.

The fact that Remi had little interest in who exactly sank the Bismarck or why the Battle of the Bulge was so important was something that never ceased to amaze Sam.

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later in April 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Along with her sister ship Tirpitz, Bismarck was the largest battleship ever built by Germany, and the heaviest built by any European power.

Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, codenamed Rheinübung, in May 1941. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break out into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, however, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat with heavy damage, although Bismarck herself had been hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank.

The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy with dozens of warships involved. Two days later, while steaming for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one hit was scored that jammed the battleship's steering gear and rendered her unmanoeuvrable. The following morning, Bismarck was destroyed by a pair of British battleships. The cause of her sinking is disputed: some in the Royal Navy claim that torpedoes fired by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire administered the fatal blow, while German survivors argue that they scuttled the ship.

The Battle of the Bulge (also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Von Rundstedt Offensive) (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive, launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, and France and Luxembourg on the Western Front.

The Wehrmacht's code name for the offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), after the German patriotic hymn Die Wacht am Rhein. This German offensive was officially named the Ardennes-Alsace campaign by the U.S. Army, but it is known to the English-speaking general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge, the "bulge" being the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.

The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. Germany's goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favour. Once accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.

The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Although Ultra suggested a possible attack and the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the Allies were still caught by surprise. This was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance.

Near-complete surprise against a weakly defended section of the Allied line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance, particularly around the key town of Bastogne, and terrain favoring the defenders threw the German timetable behind schedule. Allied reinforcements, including General George S. Patton's Third Army, and improving weather conditions, which permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, sealed the failure of the offensive.

In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line. For the Americans, with about 840,000 men committed and some 89,000 casualties, including 19,000 killed, the Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle that they fought in World War II.

Pacific Vortex: Mynah Birds and more

pg 38

...a naked Pitt gazed out the open window at a pair of mynah birds who were fighting over a disinterested female.

he myna is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which occur naturally only in southern and eastern Asia. Several species have been introduced to areas like North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, especially the Common Myna which is often regarded as an invasive species.

Mynas are not a natural group; instead, the term myna is used for any starling in India and surrounding areas, regardless of their relationships. This range was colonized twice during the evolution of starlings, first by rather ancestral starlings related to the Coleto and Aplonis lineages, and millions of years later by birds related to the Common Starling and Wattled Starling's ancestors. These two groups of mynas can be distinguished in the more terrestrial adaptions of the latter, which usually also have less glossy plumage except on the heads and longer tails. The Bali Myna which is nearly extinct in the wild is highly distinctive.

Some mynas are considered talking birds, for their ability to reproduce sounds, including human speech, when in captivity.

"Myna" is derived from the Tamil language.

He had a neatly trimmed Ahab, the whaler's red beard

The chin curtain beard (also called a Donegal or Lincoln) is a particular style of facial hair that grows along the jaw line and covers the chin completely (but does not include a mustache). This is not to be confused with the chinstrap beard—a style of beard that also grows along the jaw line but does not fully cover the chin like the chin curtain beard does. In addition, many chin curtain beards do not extend that far below the jawline, if at all, whereas all chinstrap beards generally do.

This style of facial hair was made famous by individuals such as Abraham Lincoln.

The Navy Department has compiled thirty-eight documented cases of ships over the past thirty eight years that have sailed into a circular-shaped area north of the Hawaiian island and vanished.

Cussler is creating this mystery for the book - in real life there are no such disappearances (without the maydays and wreckage, etc.)

bits of flotsam, oil slicks, even bodies

In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict describe specific kinds of wreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage.

Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo.
Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore.
Lagan is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed.
Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming.